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IPbfladelpbia 

(Briffitb  &  IRowlanb  prees 

1630  Cbcstnut  Street 


Copyright  1907  by  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society 


Published  July,  1907 


ifrom  tbe  fBocictB'B  own  prwe 


DEDICATED    TO 

c.  s.  ^. 


BY 

A    FELLOW-PUPIL    IN    THE    SCIENCE 

AND  ART  OF   CHRISTIANITY 


PREFACE 

About  fourteen  years  ago,  while  a  student  in 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  I  began  a  study  of 
the  Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  with  a  view  to  discover- 
ing the  forces  and  aims  that  caused  the  Christian 
Church  to  form  a  New  Testament.  I  submitted 
an  essay  at  that  time,  for  which  I  was  awarded 
the  prize  in  New  Testament  Introduction.  A 
few  years  later  I  read  a  paper  on  the  same  sub- 
ject before  the  American  Society  of  Church  His- 
tory. While  a  pastor  in  New  Haven  I  did  some 
work  in  the  library  of  Yale  University,  especially 
on  the  fragments  of  Heracleon's  ''  Commentary 
on  John,"  preserved  for  us  by  Origen,  on  the 
ground  of  authority  underlying  the  Christianity 
of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  on  several  other 
subjects  closely  related  to  this  discussion. 

I  do  not  claim  for  this  fruitage  of  my  study  an 
exhaustive  treatment.  Such  a  treatment  is  prac- 
tically endless.  A  hundred  related  subjects  crowd 
in  upon  the  question  we  have  set  before  us.  I 
have  only  tried  to  trace  the  conflict  between  the 
early  principle  of  an  "  open  vision,"  and  the  ec- 
clesiastical principle  of  a  closed  "  canon,"  trying 
to  avoid  the  confusion  of  thought  that  comes 
from  a  failure  to  keep  the  two  ideas  distinct.    As 

7 


8  PREFACE 

far  back  as  the  age  of  the  writer  of  Second  Peter 
we  find  a  tendency  to  collect  the  Epistles  of  Paul. 
This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  author  of 
Second  Peter  regards  Paul's  Epistles  as  a  closed 
canon,  or  looks  upon  his  own  writing  as  of 
inferior  value.  Indeed,  countless  books  were  writ- 
ten in  the  early  days  to  which  the  names  of  apos- 
tles were  attached.  This  very  act  was  a  tacit  ad- 
mission of  the  superior  authority  of  the  apostles ; 
but  it  was  also  a  proof  that  the  writers  did  not 
regard  the  age  of  revelation  as  closed.  What 
we  are  trying  to  find  here  is  not  the  time  when  the 
New  Testament  books  were  written,  nor  even 
when  they  were  brought  together  in  collections, 
but  when  the  idea  first  arose  that  no  more  could 
be  written,  and  that  the  collection  was  limited  to 
a  definite  body  of  documents. 

I  am  greatly  indebted,  especially  in  the  early 
years  of  my  study,  to  suggestion  and  inspiration 
received  from  Prof.  A.  C.  McGifTert,  of  Union 
Theological  Seminary.  My  indebtedness  to  Prof. 
Adolph  Harnack,  of  Berlin,  will  be  manifest  to  all 
who  are  familiar  with  his  "  Dogmengeschichte." 
Help  has  also  been  received  from  Professor 
Loofs'  "  Dogmengeschichte."  My  thanks  are  due 
to  the  Rev.  Charles  R.  Gillett,  d.  d.,  librarian  of 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  to  Mr.  Addi- 
son Van  Name,  m.  a._,  librarian  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity, for  courtesies  extended  to  me. 

Philadelphia,  March  12,  1907.  GeORGE    H.    FeRRIS. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


CHAPTER 

I.  The  New  Testament  a  Selection 1 1 

II.  The  First  Norm  of  Authority 31 

III.  The  Period  of  Confusion 45 

IV.  The  First  Theologians 11 

V.  The  Resentment  of  the  Church 109 

VI.   Marcion's  New  Testament 125 

VII.  The  New  Prophets 149 

VIII.  The  Catholic  Fathers 173 

IX.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles i97 

X.  The  Voice  OF  Rome 217 

XI.  The  Process  Reviewed 235 

XII.  Conclusions 253 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  A  SELECTION 


A  STUDY  of  the  motives  and  movements  in 
the  early  church  that  led  to  the  formation 
of  a  New  Testament  cannot  fail  to  possess  a  pecu- 
liar interest.  We  hear  much  said  about  '*  a  New 
Testament  church,"  but  it  is  generally  forgotten 
that  a  New  Testament  church  is  a  church  with- 
out a  New  Testament.  The  moment  we  begin 
to  ask  how  the  documents  came  to  be  included  in 
one  book,  we  see  that  it  takes  just  as  much 
"  inspiration  "  in  the  common  conception  of  that 
word,  to  get  the  book  closed,  as  to  get  it  written. 
And  yet  the  whole  question  is  seldom  carried 
beyond  the  problem  of  the  composition  of  the 
documents.  A  work  on  the  "  Canon  "  is  gener-  j 
ally  nothing  but  a  history  of  the  accepted  books,  ' 
that  endeavors  to  trace  back  their  origin  to  the 
first  century.  Seldom  is  any  consideration  given 
to  other  books.  Not  long  ago,  when  a  fragment 
of  the  Gospel  of  Peter  was  discovered,  no  little 
apprehension  was  aroused  in  the  minds  of  many, 
because  of  the  treatment  it  received  at  the  hands 
of  scholars.    Some  treated  it  as  if  it  were  authen- 

12 


14  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

tic  gospel  history.  Some  called  attention  to  the 
important  place  it  held  in  the  church  in  the  second 
century.  Even  the  more  conservative  did  not 
hesitate  to  contrast  its  sayings  with  those  of  the 
Four.  Certain  preachers,  of  the  liberal  sort,  se- 
lected texts  for  sermons  from  it. 

All  this  raised  the  question  as  to  how  the  num- 
V  ber  of  Gospels  became  definitely  and  finally  set- 
tled. Who  determined  that  four  was  the  accepted 
number?  How  was  the  decision  reached?  Was 
the  man  who  reached  it  inspired  ?  Did  he  receive 
a  direct  revelation,  as  authoritative  as  that  of 
the  Gospels  themselves?  Such  questions  were 
asked  quite  generally,  and  were  never  successfully 
answered.  The  disturbance  subsided,  and  the 
church  settled  down  once  more,  as  often,  to  the 
^  unquestioning  acceptance  of  tradition;  settled 
down,  all  but  that  residuum  of  earnest  and  con- 
scientious minds,  left  behind  by  every  such  period 
of  questioning,  to  whom  nothing  is  ever  settled 
until  it  is  answered.  It  is  to  such  minds  that 
we  appeal  for  companionship  in  the  following 
investigation. 

In  the  middle  of  the  second  century  we  find  that 
our  New  Testament  books  were  mixed  in  with  a 
great  mass  of  literature,  containing  epistles,  homi- 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A    SELECTION  1 5 

lies,  prophecies,  apocalyptic  visions,  apostolic  his- 
tories, and  gospel  narratives.  No  effort  had  been 
made  to  sift  this  material,  and  some  of  these 
books  were  prized  even  more  highly  than  those 
which  eventually  found  an  entrance  into  the 
authoritative  collection.  Those  who  accept  this 
collection,  as  it  has  come  down  to  us,  and 
receive  without  question  the  group  of  docu- 
ments selected  by  the  church,  must  admit  the  in- 
spiration of  the  church,  in  a  sense  just  as  true 
and  definite  as  that  of  the  authors  of  the  books 
themselves.  The  same  Spirit  that  did  the  writ- 
ing must  have  done  the  separating.  If  this  is 
the  case,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  church  is  to 
be  put  on  a  plane  of  absolute  equality  with  the 
inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  writers,  the 
question  naturally  arises  whether  that  inspiration 
continues  to  this  day,  or  whether  it  was  limited  to 
that  particular  period  and  to  that  special  service. 
In  order  to  get  a  closed  canon  must  we  admit 
the  Catholic  doctrine  of  an  inspired  church?  If 
we  reject  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  an  inspired 
church  can  we  get  a  closed  canon?  Indeed,  how 
did  we  get  our  New  Testament  anyway,  and  just 
what  attitude  must  a  man  manifest  toward  it,  who 
cannot  accept  it  unquestioningly,  merely  because 


l6  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

it  has  been  so  accepted  for  many  centuries  by  the 
great  Christian  body?  These  are  questions  of 
Hving  interest,  involving  claims  to  catholicity 
put  forth  by  others  than  the  Roman  Church,  en- 
tering into  the  foundation  of  every  Protestant 
body,  and  raising  anew  the  very  problem  of  the 
seat  of  authority  in  religion. 

Many  a  strange  hypothesis  has  been  advanced 
to  bridge  over  the  hiatus  between  the  mass  of  un- 
collected and  unsifted  documents,  and  the  New 
Testament.  The  dream  of  a  table  in  the  midst 
of  a  great  library,  of  certain  praying  saints  in  a 
neighboring  room,  of  the  rustling  of  a  mys- 
terious Spirit  among  the  dusty  documents,  and  of 
the  final  entrance  of  the  holy  men  into  the  library 
to  find  on  the  table  the  books  that  constitute  our 
present  New  Testament,  is  one  that  need  not  en- 
gage our  attention.  And  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
for  many  centuries  some  such  conception  as  this 
was  very  generally  accepted  in  the  church,  even 
by  scholars.  However  desirable  such  an  explana- 
tion may  be  from  the  poetic  standpoint,  and  how- 
ever closely  it  may  seem  to  connect  the  method 
of  the  formation  of  the  New  Testament  with  the 
popular  conception  of  its  composition,  such  a 
hypothesis  is  overthrown  the  moment  we  open 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A    SELECTION  1 7 

the  pages  of  patristic  literature.  Whatever  idea 
of  inspiration  the  student  may  hold,  when  he 
enters  the  writings  of  Irenseus  and  Tertullian  he 
is  forced  to  abandon  the  thought  that  the  selec- 
tion of  the  documents  was  made  by  a  method 
supernatural  and  mysterious. 

Almost  as  difficult  of  acceptance  is  the  theory 
that  the  formation  of  the  New  Testament  was  an 
expression  of  the  "  Christian  consciousness  of  the 
second  century."  The  expression  *'  Christian 
consciousness  "  is  somewhat  vague,  but  if  it  be 
taken  to  mean  the  general  approval  of  the  Chris- 
tian communities,  it  is  not  true  that  the  New  Tes- 
tament was  so  formed.  For  example,  a  book  like 
the  "  Shepherd  of  Hermas  "  could  not  have  been 
excluded  by  a  consensus  of  popular  opinion,  for  it 
was  probably  more  widely  read  and  admired  than 
any  book  now  in  our  New  Testament.  It  must 
have  been  repudiated  first  by  certain  men  in  au- 
thority because  of  its  heretical  tendencies,  have 
been  gradually  discredited  by  the  church  officials, 
and  finally  have  been  torn  out  by  the  roots  from 
the  depths  of  the  Christian  heart.  This  was  actu- 
ally done.  In  this  case  the  *'  Christian  conscious- 
ness "  means  the  authority  of  the  bishops.  Then 
too,  there  were  in  existence  books  that  had  been 


l8  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

written  by  men  like  "  the  apostle  Clement,"  and 
"  the  apostle  Barnabas."  If  the  test  of  a  book  is 
to  be  its  apostolic  authorship,  and  no  one  ever 
thought  of  questioning  this,  how  can  these  books 
be  excluded,  and  the  writings  of  Mark  and  Luke 
included?  If  the  "  Christian  consciousness  "  had 
been  allowed  to  express  itself  on  this  point  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  decision  would  have 
been  entirely  different.  Without  utterly  ignoring 
many  of  the  most  significant  facts  in  our  sources, 
we  cannot  account  for  the  formation  of  our  New 
Testament  save  by  the  instrumentality  of  episco- 
pal authority,  which,  for  the  time  being  at  least, 
was  equal  to  that  of  the  writings  themselves. 
Only  those  who  mean  this  authority,  when  they 
say  "  Christian  consciousness,"  have  any  right  to 
use  the  term.  The  phrase  sounds  well,  and,  like 
the  more  poetic  explanation  of  the  miracle  in  the 
library,  seems  to  save  us  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
and  investigation.  But  the  facts  of  history  are 
against  it.  The  books  were  not  put  to  a  vote.  The 
popular  consciousness  had  little  to  do  with  the 
matter.  The  sifting  was  entirely  done  by  men 
whose  ecclesiastical  position  put  them  on  a  level 
of  authority  with  the  New  Testament  writers 
themselves. 


tHE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A    SELECTION  IQ 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  we  are  here  dealing 
with  a  most  delicate  question.  The  relation  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  somewhat  of  an  anomaly  to  her  oppo- 
nents. It  has  always  been  a  strong  point  in 
Protestant  polemics  that  her  extension  of  the 
period  of  revelation  beyond  the  time  of  the  canon 
leaves  no  place  in  her  system  for  the  canon  itself. 
This  is  true,  in  a  sense,  but  the  books  were  in  ex- 
istence before  the  Catholic  Church,  and  some- 
thing had  to  be  done  with  them.  The  Catholic 
Church  might  have  dispensed  with  them,  on  the 
ground  that  she  believed  in  the  continuation 
of  inspiration  through  the  medium  of  her  officers, 
but  she  was  given  no  choice  in  the  matter.  They 
were  there,  and  were  destined  to  give  her  no  end 
of  trouble  as  the  years  went  by,  because  of  the 
contrast  they  furnished  between  primitive  and 
Catholic  Christianity. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  Protestant  writers 
who  use  the  New  Testament  as  a  weapon  against 
the  old  church,  do  not  always  realize  that  the 
extension  of  the  period  of  revelation  beyond  the 
apostles,  and  its  confinement  to  the  bishops,  was 
necessary  in  the  beginning  in  order  to  get  the 
canon  closed.     They  make  much  ado  over  '*  A 


20  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

New  Testament  Church,"  and  forget  that  the 
church  had  no  New  Testament.  The  Cathohc 
Church  gave  it  to  us.  If  the  Protestant  theolo- 
gian takes  the  ground  that  the  church  ought  to 
have  put  the  matter  to  a  popular  vote,  he  prac- 
tically admits  that  we  ought  to  have  a  different 
canon  from  that  one  which  he  so  strongly  insists 
is  **  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice." 
So  his  position  becomes  just  as  much  of  an 
anomaly  to  the  Catholic,  as  is  that  of  a  Catholic 
to  him. 

As  we  shall  see,  there  was  a  movement  in  the 
early  church  that  opposed  the  Catholic  doctrine 
of  the  confinement  of  inspiration  to  the  bishops, 
a  belief  in  the  universal  inspiration  of  believers; 
but  the  claim  was  easily  made  against  these  peo- 
ple that  they  had  no  need  of  a  New  Testament 
at  all.  Among  the  Montanists,  the  books  might 
have  been  put  to  a  popular  vote,  but  the  fact  that 
the  prophetic  gift  was  still  supposed  to  be  con- 
tinued among  them  did  away  entirely  with  the 
necessity  of  a  closed  canon  in  those  circles,  and 
made  them  the  strong  opponents  of  all  efforts  to 
"  set  boundary-posts  to  God." 

What,  then,  did  give  birth  to  the  necessity  for 
a  New  Testament?     Why  was  it  that  away  on 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A   SELECTION  21 

into  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  church 
grew  and  expanded  with  remarkable  rapidity, 
without  giving  a  thought  to  collecting  and  clos- 
ing her  authoritative  documents?  There  is  but 
one  explanation.  Up  to  that  time  she  made  no 
effort  to  become  a  speculative  homogeneity.  She 
had  no  well-defined  system  of  doctrine.  She  was 
more  interested  in  changing  men's  lives  than  in 
changing  their  opinions.  She  was  trying  to 
make  them  morally  at  one  with  the  will  of  God, 
rather  than  intellectually  in  agreement  over  a 
theory  of  the  origin  of  the  cosmos.  All  books 
that  helped  to  this  end  were  accepted  without 
question,  and  history  tells  us  that  the  number  of 
such  books  was  very  great.  It  ought  to  answer 
forever  the  hypothesis  that  narrowness  is  essen- 
tial to  progress,  that  the  period  of  Christianity 
over  which  hovers  the  greatest  romance,  while 
she  was  secretly  building  up  that  influence  that 
was  soon  to  surprise  the  world,  was  the  period 
when  her  authoritative  literature  was  without 
limit. 

As  the  years  went  by,  however,  there  came 
into  the  church  a  tendency,  having  its  origin  in 
the  spirit  of  Greece,  that  made  redemption  consist 
in  knowledge,  in  the  acquaintance  of  the  finite 


22  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Spirit  with  the  character  and  the  purposes  of  the 
Infinite.  This  tendency  took  the  emphasis  away 
from  moral  conduct,  and  placed  it  upon  specula- 
tion. Its  passion  for  redemption  became  a  search 
for  the  true  science.  What  was  the  Christian 
conception  of  the  origin  of  the  universe?  Where 
was  to  be  found  the  system  of  thought  as  taught 
by  Christ?  Manifestly  only  in  the  writings  of 
those  to  whom  he  taught  it.  So  began  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  with  a 
view  to  finding  the  ontological  explanation  of  the 
origin  of  the  cosmos,  as  contained  implicitly  in 
their  teachings.  At  first  the  church  was  shocked. 
Christians  everywhere  cried  out  against  the  new 
movement.  The  finding  of  mysteries  about  crea- 
tive powers,  and  about  the  battles  of  personified 
ideas  in  those  documents  which  had  heretofore 
been  but  sources  of  inspired  truth,  disgusted 
them.  The  Christian  conflict  had  been  very  real 
and  tangible  up  to  this  time.  Persecutions,  idola- 
tries, immoralities,  the  temptations  to  apostasy, 
the  allurements  of  sense,  and  all  the  dangers 
of  a  corrupt  society,  had  made  it  very  plain  to 
the  mind  of  the  average  Christian  what  it  meant 
to  be  "  redeemed."  But  suddenly  the  word  re- 
ceived a  new  content.    It  became  a  battle  of  con- 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A    SELECTION  23 

ceptions  up  in  the  clouds.  It  consisted  in  mystic 
union  with  God  through  a  comprehension  of  his 
method  of  creation.  Redemption  was  through 
''  gnosis,"  or  knowledge.  However  much  the 
simple  Christian  might  resist  this  tendency,  it 
had  come  into  the  church  to  stay.  When  once 
the  effort  to  find  a  "  system  "  takes  possession  of 
a  man  or  a  church,  and  '*  faith  "  is  identified  with 
holding  the  proper  doctrine,  there  is  no  stop  until 
religion  is  reduced  to  a  formula,  and  salvation 
consists  in  the  holding  of  the  right  creed. 

So  the  church  began  to  speculate  on  its  written 
memorials.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that  there 
was  a  definite  body  of  writings,  contained  some- 
where in  the  mass  of  Christian  literature,  that 
was  a  theological  unit,  and  that  contained  the 
Christian  "  system."  All  that  remained  to  be 
done,  in  order  to  form  a  New  Testament,  was  to 
find  these  books,  and  bring  them  together.  This 
was  no  easy  task,  as  events  proved.  Until  the 
purpose  to  weed  out  the  heretical  books,  and  to 
gather  together  those  that  are  authoritative,  is 
born,  it  is  not  proper  to  speak  of  the  existence  of 
a  New  Testament.  Not  until  a  distinction  is 
made  between  those  documents  from  which 
men  have  a  legal  right  to  draw  their  doctrines, 


2.[  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

and  tliose  which,  though  containing  a  certain 
amount  of  truth,  are  not  authoritative  in  every 
particular,  is  there  present  that  legal  conception 
which  is  expressed  by  the  words  "  canon,"  and 
"  canonical."  The  term  is  juridical.  There  may 
exist  in  the  church  a  vast  amount  of  sacred 
literature,  of  varying  degrees  of  value,  which  the 
different  assemblies  regard  as  holy,  and  read  in 
their  public  meetings,  some  estimating  one  class 
of  books  most  highly,  and  some  another,  long 
before  a  canon  is  in  existence.  The  formation 
of  a  canon  implies,  not  the  collection  of  these 
books,  but  their  separation  into  canonical  and 
apocryphal. 

It  is  very  essential  to  bear  this  in  mind.  What 
we  are  seeking  is  not  the  origin  of  the  separate 
documents,  but  the  origin  of  the  New  Testament. 
A  book  may  have  been  in  existence  long  before 
it  was  regarded  as  a  part  of  a  single  and  authori- 
tative collection.  Its  insertion  in  such  a  collec- 
tion does  not  necessarily  imply  a  change  in  the 
value  put  upon  it,  but  a  change  in  the  use  made 
of  it,  and  above  all,  its  separation  from  certain 
other  books  that  have  hitherto  stood  on  a  level 
with  it.  x\ny  work  on  the  "  Canon,"  which  ig- 
nores this  distinction,  however  valuable  it  may 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A   SELECTION  25 

be  as  an  apologetic  account  of  the  antiquity  of 
the  accepted  documents,  will  be  utterly  valueless 
as  an  account  of  the  formation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  to  show  that  this  dis- 
tinction was  not  made  until  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  century  does  not  cast  any  contempt  upon 
the  books,  or  imply  that  they  were  not  valued  as 
the  revelations  of  God  for  many  years  previous 
to  their  formation  into  a  New  Testament.  Such 
a  formation  implies  a  sifting  process  for  the  pur- 
pose of  segregating  the  doctrinally  reliable  books, 
and  also  implies  the  existence  of  certain  ques- 
tions of  a  speculative  nature  which  require  an 
authoritative  norm  for  their  settlement.  A  New 
Testament  fences  off  its  contents  from  all  out- 
side literature,  and  will  not  allow  its  documents 
to  mix  freely  with  outside  books,  however  useful 
such  books  may  be  for  purposes  of  devotion.  A 
canon  exalts  itself  as  the  supreme  court  of  appeal 
in  doctrinal  strife,  as  the  last  resort  for  deter- 
mining the  wisdom  and  will  of  the  Infinite. 

But,  granted  the  assumption  that  there  is  a 
complete  science  to  be  found  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  a  difficulty  presents  itself.  These 
Scriptures  deal  primarily  with  matters  of  con- 
duct, and  are  often  nothing  but  simple  accounts 


26  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  Jesus.  How  can  a 
cosmology  be  found  in  such  books  ?  Here  the  alle- 
gorical method  of  interpretation  comes  in.  This 
method,  which  finds  great  mysteries  and  hidden 
meanings  in  numbers  and  symbols,  had  enabled 
Philo  to  discover  the  entire  Platonic  philosophy 
in  the  Pentateuch.  In  the  same  way  it  had  long 
been  customary  for  the  best  educated  men  in  the 
little  Christian  communities  to  prove  that  the  Old 
Testament  was  a  Christian  book.  Up  to  the  time 
when  Heracleon,  the  Gnostic,  prepared  his  com- 
mentary on  the  Gospel  of  John,  it  is  impossible 
to  find  any  example  of  such  a  method  of  interpre- 
tation being  applied  to  a  Christian  book.  As 
soon  as  the  idea  was  born  that  there  was  a  defi- 
nite system  of  theology  taught  by  Christ  and  the 
apostles,  we  find  this  method  used  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  documents.  It  became  necessary  to 
prove  that  all  doctrinal  strifes  were  foreseen  by 
the  New  Testament,  and  a  norm  therein  provided 
for  their  settlement.  This  necessity  led  the  church 
Fathers  to  use  the  allegorical  interpretation  with 
increasing  freedom.  As  soon  as  an  effort  was 
made  to  select  an  authoritative  set  of  books  from 
the  great  mass  of  literature,  and  Christian  teach- 
ers, instead  of  standing  upon  their  own  inspired 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A    SELECTION  2^ 

authority,  began  to  appeal  to  documents,  we  find 
the  beginnings  of  that  method  which  enabled 
each  school  of  thought  in  Greece  to  find  its  tenets 
in  the  fables  of  Homer,  the  text-book  or  Bible  of 
paganism.  At  first  the  Fathers  ridiculed  it,  but 
they  soon  fell  into  it.  We  find  Irenseus,  in  al- 
most the  same  chapter,  laughing  at  the  philoso- 
phers, and  pilfering  their  method.  Of  course,  the 
New  Testament  itself  was  not  supposed  to  con- 
struct explicitly  a  system  of  theology,  founded  on 
a  definite  cosmological  conception  of  the  uni- 
verse; but  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  such  a 
system  was  in  the  mind  of  the  great  Author.  So 
all  that  remained  to  be  done,  in  order  to  construct 
such  a  system,  and  group  Christian  thought  about 
it,  was  to  make  explicit  that  which  was  implicit  in 
the  canon.  For  this  no  better  tool  could  be  found 
than  the  old  eclectic  method  of  interpretation. 

If  the  New  Testament  was  not  formed  by  a  pop- 
ular vote,  but  by  the  power  and  authority  of  cer- 
tain men  in  ecclesiastical  positions  in  the  church, 
we  cannot  refrain  from  asking,  "  What  sort  of 
men  were  they?  what  motives  actuated  them? 
did  they  do  their  work  carefully?"  Many  of 
these  questions,  which  naturally  come  upon  us  in 
great  numbers,  will  be  answered  implicitly  in  the 


28  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

following  pages.  One  thing,  however,  we  must 
not  forget :  we  are  not  able  to  hear  both  sides  of 
the  case.  The  defendant  has  been  silenced.  The 
great  mass  of  early  Christian  literature  has  been 
destroyed,  and  we  are  almost  invariably  depend- 
ent for  the  teachings  of  a  heretical  writer  upon 
what  is  said  of  him  by  his  theological  opponents. 
We  are  forced  to  say,  ''  Here  is  a  place  to  hang 
up  a  red  light."  The  polemics  of  men  like  Ter- 
tullian  and  Epiphanius,  whatever  we  may  think 
of  the  earnestness  of  their  spirit  or  the  truth  of 
their  creed,  was  not  of  sufficiently  high  character 
to  justify  implicit  confidence  in  their  judgments 
of  men.  We  can  hardly  say  that  it  is  safe,  even 
now,  to  judge  of  a  man  by  reading  extracts  from 
his  writings  made  by  one  of  the  opposing  school 
of  thought.  The  reader  can  easily  see  what  our 
attitude  must  be  toward  the  statements  of  writers 
living  in  an  age  when  error  was  considered  a 
crime. 

What  we  are  to  seek  in  our  investigation  is  not 
the  origin  of  the  separate  documents,  but  the 
origin  of  the  New  Testament.  A  canon  is  of  ne- 
cessity a  homogeneity,  having  one  real  Author, 
and  not  many.  To  recount  the  history  of  the  lit- 
erature contained  in  it  is  altogether  a  different 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    A    SELECTION  2g 

task  from  the  effort  to  give  an  account  of  its  for- 
mation. We  are  not  trying  to  discover  when  the 
documents  were  written,  but  when  they  came  to  be 
looked  upon  as  the  integral  parts  of  a  single  and 
authoritative  volume.  Our  search  is  for  the  birth 
of  an  idea.  The  Epistles  of  Paul  may  have  been 
regarded  as  sacred,  and  may  have  long  been  used 
in  public  reading  because  of  their  ethical  and 
spiritual  value,  without  once  being  looked  upon 
as  parts  of  a  closed  collection  that  is  useful,  not 
only  in  building  men  up  in  the  religious  life,  but 
as  the  "  last  will  and  testament  "  of  the  apostles, 
as  a  literal  authority  in  settling  difficult  doctrinal 
disputes,  and  as  the  repository  of  thought  that  is 
the  key  to  the  explanation  of  the  universe.  To 
prove  that  this  book  or  that  was  very  highly 
prized,  and  was  quoted  by  the  earliest  Christian 
writers,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  as  to 
how  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  a  canoni- 
cal collection,  to  which  appeal  must  be  made  in 
settling  the  disputes  of  a  divided  Christendom. 


II 

THE  FIRST  NORM  OF  AUTHORITY 


II 


I  HAVE  no  commandment  of  the  Lord,"  said 
Paul  in  dealing  with  a  certain  question; 
**  yet  I  give  my  judgment,  as  one  that  hath  ob- 
tained mercy  of  the  Lord  to  be  faithful  "  (i  Cor. 
7  :  25).  One  has  but  to  read  the  context  to  see 
that  the  apostle  refers  to  a  direct  spiritual  commu-  P"  ' 
nication,  and  not  to  any  saying  obtained  from  a 
document,  when  he  speaks  of  a  commandment  of 
the  Lord.  This  source  of  authority  was  found  in 
the  church  for  over  a  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  Christ.  The  Spirit  of  Christ  was  sup- 
posed to  be  present  in  his  church,  inspiring  the 
heart,  informing  the  mind,  and  guiding  and  di- 
recting the  counsels  of  his  people.  To  be  sure,  not 
all  Christians  had  the  fine  discrimination  of  Paul 
between  the  "  commandment  of  the  Lord  "  and 
their  own  judgment.  Wild  prophets,  possessing 
the  gift  of  "  tongues,"  or  receiving  spiritual  com- 
munications by  means  of  dreams  and  trances, 
were  found  in  many  Christian  communities,  and 
great  importance  was  attached  to  the  revelations 
received  through  them.    The  number  of  "  apoca- 


34  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

lypses  "  far  outnumbered  the  *'  gospels  "  in  the 
Hterature  of  the  second  century.  The  nature  of 
these  revelations  can  only  be  inferred  from  the 
one  that  was  circulated  under  the  name  of  John, 
and  that  eventually  found  a  place  in  the  New 
Testament.  Through  this,  as  a  window,  we  can 
look  in  upon  the  church  of  the  second  century, 
and  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  spirit  that  ruled  it. 
The  favorite  vehicle  for  ''  commands  of  the 
Lord  "  was  not  the  more  sober  history,  but  the 
imaginative  work,  clothed  in  highly  colored  and 
figurative  language.  The  reason  for  this  prefer- 
ence was  that  the  "  commands  of  the  Lord  "  had 
not  yet  become  things  of  the  past,  but  were  a 
spiritual  and  present  reality.  Despite  all  the  gro- 
tesque and  mystical  forms  which  the  belief  in  a 
present  Christ  assumed,  there  was  back  of  it  a 
mighty  and  practical  power.  Christianity  was 
not  a  thing  of  yesterday  to  the  Christian  of  the 
time  of  Hadrian.  To  possess  the  "  mind  of 
Christ,"  to  allow  the  **  Spirit  of  Christ  to  rule  in 
him,"  to  feel  Christ's  plans  and  purposes  working 
themselves  out  in  his  life,  was  the  one  great 
desire  of  his  heart. 

A  correction  of  the  abuses  to  which  this  doc- 
trine of  a  present  inspiration  was  subject,  was 


THE    FIRST    NORM    OF    AUTHORITY  35 

found  in  another  and  parallel  norm  of  authority. 
Men  who  had  walked  and  talked  with  Christ 
handed  down  by  word  of  mouth  certain  sayings 
of  his,  which  gradually  became  common  prop- 
erty, and  assumed  somewhat  the  nature  of  a  moral 
code.  As  the  days  dragged  by,  and  life  after  life 
disappeared,  and  the  survivors  of  the  generation 
of  Christ  became  fewer  and  fewer,  the  tendency 
to  make  this  authority  literary,  that  is  to  fix  these 
"  commands  of  the  Lord  "  in  documents,  slowly 
began  to  supersede  the  method  of  oral  tradition. 
A  transformation  so  radical,  however,  could  not 
take  place  all  at  once.  Indeed,  we  find  Papias,  of 
Hierapolis,  in  Phrygia,  a  Christian  writer  who 
flourished  a  little  before  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  and  suffered  martyrdom  about  the 
year  i6o,  saying  this,  "  For  I  did  not  think  that 
what  was  to  be  gotten  from  the  books  would 
profit  me  as  much  as  what  came  from  the  living 
and  abiding  voice."  ^  Accordingly,  he  assures  us 
that  if  he  met  some  one  who  had  talked  with 
some  one  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  he  questioned 
him  very  carefully,  because  he  regarded  this  tradi- 
tion as  more  important  and  reliable  than  any- 
thing he  could  get  from  the  documents.     In  this 

^  Eusebius,  H.  E.,  III.,  39,  4. 


36  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Papias  represents  an  attitude  very  common  in 
earlier  times,  but  one  that  was  dying  out  in  his 
day.  His  work  was  entitled,  '*  Exegesis  of  the 
Sayings  (or  Oracles)  of  the  Lord."  His  norm 
of  authority  was  confined  to  the  ''  commandments 
of  Christ,"  but  he  was  willing  to  gather  these 
commandments,  even  after  one  hundred  years, 
from  some  old  man  who  had  met  and  talked  with 
a  disciple,  or  a  hearer  of  the  Master. 

This  exegetical  work  of  Papias  plainly  had  no 
theological  purpose,  but  was  solely  for  the  inspira- 
tion and  guidance  of  the  religious  life  of  the 
church.  Some  light  is  thrown  upon  his  purpose 
by  what  he  said  of  Matthew.  He  tells  us  that 
this  evangelist  drew  up  a  collection  of  the  sayings 
and  doings  of  Christ  "  in  the  Hebrew  dialect," 
and  that  "  every  one  translated  it  as  he  was  able." 
An  effort  was  being  made  to  fix  the  form  of  the 
Gospel  more  definitely.  These  "  sayings "  of 
Christ,  which  we  find  distributed  through  the 
other  Gospels,  but  grouped  in  Matthew,  were  a 
sort  of  a  "  new  law  "  to  many  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians. Papias  gathered  together  the  "  Oracles  " 
of  Christ,  not  for  any  theological  end,  but  purely 
with  an  ethical  and  spiritual  purpose.  To  this 
day  those  to  whom  Christianity  is  a  spirit  and  a 


THE    FIRST    NORM    OF    AUTHORITY  37 

life,  rather  than  an  organization  and  a  theology, 
find  it  made  most  luminous  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  The  first  collections  of  the  "  Ora- 
cles "  of  Christ  can  hardly  be  called  an  effort  to 
make  Christianity  a  historical  religion,  buried  in 
certain  documents,  for  the  sole  aim  in  their  pro- 
duction was  to  keep  alive  in  the  church  the  in- 
spiration of  the  spirit  and  the  mind  of  Christ. 
The  study  of  words  and  phrases,  the  discovery  of 
great  world-forming  mysteries  in  a  preposition 
or  an  accent,  had  not  yet  entered  the  church. 
Christianity  was  an  experience,  not  a  theory ;  the 
disciple  of  this  period  was  known  by  his  fruits, 
rather  than  by  his  creed.  Persecution  kept  the 
Christian's  faith  in  a  living  Christ  pure  and  vital, 
and  as  long  as  Christ  was  present  in  the  church 
there  was  no  need  of  looking  for  him  in  a  book. 
When  the  Didache  calls  itself  "  The  Teaching 
of  the  Lord  Through  the  Apostles,"  and  exhorts 
its  readers  so  frequently  to  do  '*  as  the  Lord  com- 
manded," it  has  no  idea  that  these  commands  are 
fixed  in  a  book,  nor  does  it  endeavor  to  justify 
itself  by  quotation.  One  has  but  to  read  the  docu- 
ment to  see  that  a  large  number  of  its  commands 
must  have  been  received  through  oral  tradition, 
or  by  direct  inspiration.    The  modern  reader  fre- 


38  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

quently  asks,  ''  When  did  Christ  say  that?  "  And 
yet  the  effort  to  fix  "  the  teachings  of  the  Lord 
through  the  apostles  "  is  itself  somewhat  signifi- 
cant. The  multiplicity  of  questions  of  a  practi- 
cal nature,  arising  in  the  church,  gave  birth  to  a 
demand  for  some  more  concise,  definite,  and  au- 
thoritative statement  of  the  nucleus  of  the  teach- 
ing of  Christ.  The  Didache  was  simply  one  of 
many  efforts  to  meet  this  demand.  The  revela- 
tions of  wandering  prophets  were  not  entirely 
satisfactory  to  the  more  sober  and  practical  Chris- 
tians. Examples  of  this  tendency  might  be  multi- 
plied from  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians,  from  the 
First  Epistle  of  Clement,  and  from  the  homily 
called  the  Second  Epistle  of  Clement,  where  we 
frequently  find  exhortations  to  fulfil  "  the  com- 
mands of  the  Lord,"  and  where  citations  are 
commonly  introduced  by,  ''  The  Lord  declares," 
or  **  The  Lord  says."  ' 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  see  in  this  a  distinct 
advance  over  the  conception  of  Paul,  quoted  at 
the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  in  the  question  of 
the  vehicle  of  inspiration.  Paul's  thought  of  a 
direct  revelation  from  Christ,  through  the  pres- 

*  See  Polycarp  2:3;!  Clem.  13;  2  Clem.  17:  3;  3:  4;  6:  7; 
8  :  4;  4  :  5;  9  :   11;  5  :  2;  6  :   I. 


THE    FIRST    NORM    OF   AUTHORITY  39 

ence  of  his  Spirit  in  the  soul,  was  gradually  giv- 
ing way  to  an  appeal  to  written  ''  oracles."  In 
that  conception  of  Christianity  as  a  "  new  law  " 
we  have  the  germs  of  a  development  that  was  des- 
tined to  result  in  the  death  of  spiritual  religion, 
and  in  the  formation  of  a  great  hierarchy.  The 
imitation  of  Christ  was  to  become,  not  a  repeti- 
tion of  his  spirit,  but  a  painful  obedience  to  his 
decrees.  The  "  fruits  of  the  Spirit  "  were  to  pass 
over  from  the  ripening  products  of  an  inner  life, 
to  the  copying  of  an  outward  pattern,  and  then  to 
the  performance  of  a  ritual.  The  germs  of  a  hier- 
archy are  here  in  these  ethical  teachers,  called 
the  "  Apostolic  Fathers." 

And  yet  they  were  near  enough  to  primitive 
Christianity  to  be  free  from  the  conception  of  a 
book  religion.  In  all  their  references  to  "  com- 
mands of  Christ "  they  make  no  effort  to  estab- 
lish the  authority  of  any  document,  or  collection 
of  documents,  which  profess  to  contain  these 
commands.  Second  Clement  quotes  from  the 
Gospel  of  Peter  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as 
from  the  others.^  Indeed,  sayings  of  Christ  are 
to  be  found  in  great  abundance  in  all  the  writers 
of  this  period,  which  cannot  possibly  be  identified, 

*  See  Edition  by  Lightfoot,  Part  I.,  Vol.   II.,  p.  202. 


S 


40  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

or  be  made  to  parallel,  with  anything  contained 
in  our  Gospels.  As  we  observe  their  great  free- 
dom in  the  matter  of  quotation,  and  the  very 
slight  regard  they  have  for  literal  exactitude  and 
authority,  we  are  forced  to  admit  that  they  were 
very  far  from  being  ruled  by  the  conception  of  a 
New  Testament.  The  documents  were  of  value 
to  them  merely  as  repositories  of  commands  that 
were  useful  in  building  men  up  in  the  Christian 
life.  They  had  no  theological  interest  whatever, 
and  mingled  their  own  exhortations  with  those 
of  the  apostles  and  Christ  without  the  least  regard 
to  exactness  of  statement. 

We  thus  see  that  there  were  three  sources  of 

authority  in  the  church  previous  to  the  middle  of 

!the  second  century.     The  commands  of  Christ 

fL  iwere  received  by  direct  spiritual  communication, 
iby  word  of  mouth  from  those  who  heard  him  or 

J  jhis  disciples,  and  by  documents  that  were  in  gen- 
eral acceptance  in  the  churches.  No  effort  was 
made  to  equate  these  three  sources  of  authority, 
or  to  determine  their  relative  values.  "  The  time 
was  short."  The  three  could  live  side  by  side  in 
a  church  that  was  expecting  momentarily  a 
world-cataclysm,  or  the  end  of  the  aeon.  The 
''  living  and  abiding  voice  "  was  not  supposed  to 


THE    FIRST    NORM    OF    AUTHORITY  4 1 

be  at  variance  with  the  books,  as  the  latter  owed 
their  very  existence  in  the  beginning  to  the 
former.  Few  churches  possessed  more  than  one 
copy  of  the  gospel  narrative,  and  a  traveling 
prophet  or  teacher,  who  was  acquainted  with  the 
commands  of  the  Lord  as  recorded  in  other  Gos- 
pels, was  at  liberty  to  change  or  add  to  a  particu- 
lar manuscript,  as  he  might  deem  necessary.  In 
this  way,  no  doubt,  many  of  the  alterations  in  the 
text  took  place,  which  gave  Origen  so  much 
trouble  when  he  undertook  in  later  years  to  estab- 
lish the  gospel  text.  As  long  as  passing  events, 
like  the  news  of  a  Roman  defeat,  the  report  of  a 
distant  flood,  the  advance  of  an  invading  army,  or 
a  midnight  shower  of  meteors,  were  looked  upon 
as  the  heralds  of  impending  doom,  there  would 
be  little  discussion  of  the  niceties  of  textual  in- 
terpretation. Even  in  more  settled  and  rational 
communities,  where  the  old  expectation  was  dis- 
appearing, the  main  interest  among  men  from  the 
common  walks  of  life  was  in  questions  of  con- 
duct, that  were  easily  settled  by  an  appeal  to  the 
teaching  of  Jesus,  or  by  some  revelation  of  a 
church  prophet.  The  reference  to  the  authority 
of  the  past  had  no  other  design  than  the  upbuild- 
ing of  men  in  the  Christian  type  of  character. 


42  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

The  theological  interest  had  not  yet  entered  the 
arena.  No  cosmological  speculations  had  yet  made 
it  necessary  to  find  volumes  of  philosophy  in  one 
of  those  simple  "  commands  of  the  Lord."  The 
spread  of  Christianity  did  not  take  place  at  first 
among  men  who  had  been  influenced  by  the 
doctrines  of  the  philosophical  schools. 

But  suddenly  the  scene  changed.  Christianity 
became  better  known,  and  was  no  longer  despised 
as  an  inhuman  and  brutal  superstition,  at  whose 
feasts  it  was  customary  to  drink  blood.  Men  of 
thought  and  social  standing  came  into  the  church. 
Among  them  were  scholars  from  the  ranks  of 
the  Platonists,  who  had  been  trained  to  find  a 
system  of  philosophy  in  the  poems  of  Homer. 
These  men  came  with  a  real  redemptive  interest, 
but  with  a  conception  of  redemption  steeped  in 
the  spirit  of  Greece.  The  salvation  they  were 
seeking  was  merely  an  escape  from  the  entangle- 
ments of  matter,  by  means  of  a  mystical  union 
with  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  union  was  to  be 
brought  about  by  an  intellectual  apprehension  of 
the  plans  and  purposes  of  the  Infinite.  Plato 
taught  that  vice  was  ignorance,  and  that  virtue 
consisted  in  the  holding  of  right  opinions.  To 
him  ideas  possessed  a  saving  power  in  themselves. 


THE    FIRST    NORM    OF    AUTHORITY  43 

In  the  second  century  certain  followers  of  this 
great  sage  began  to  find  in  Christianity  the  solu- 
tion of  the  cosmological  and  soteriological  mys- 
teries of  the  universe.  They  began  to  write  com- 
mentaries on  the  Christian  books,  with  a  view  to 
bringing  out  the  essence  of  the  Christian  system. 
They  worked  out  an  elaborate  and  profound 
systematic  theology.  They  introduced  the  old  in- 
tellectual aristocracy  of  Greece  into  the  Chris- 
tian communities,  drawing  a  sharp  line  between 
those  who  understood  the  deep  mysteries  of 
Christianity,  and  those  who  merely  apprehended 
it  as  a  system  of  external  commands.  The  chief 
interest  of  our  investigation  of  these  men,  how- 
ever, is  the  fact  that  their  appeal  to  the  written 
memorials  of  the  apostolic  age  was  of  necessity 
far  different  from  that  of  the  early  church  during 
her  period  of  missionary  expansion.  It  is  one 
thing  to  use  books  as  a  source  of  inspiration  in 
the  building  up  of  the  Christian  life,  and  it  is 
quite  another  to  make  them  the  dogmatic  basis  of 
systematic  theology,  the  source  of  proof-texts  to 
establish  creeds  and  Confessions,  the  last  appeal 
in  an  effort  after  a  code  of  canon  law. 


Ill 


THE  PERIOD  OF  CONFUSION 


Ill 


THE  great  majority  of  Christian  writers  in 
the  second  century  have  no  conception  of 
the  existence  of  a  definite  collection  of  docu- 
ments, constituting  a  closed  book,  and  represent- 
ing the  authoritative  teaching  of  the  apostles.  In 
the  present  chapter  we  shall  endeavor  to  show 
that  many  of  the  men  who  molded  the  life  and 
thought  of  the  day  were  utterly  without  the  idea 
of  a  New  Testament.  For  them  there  was  no  set 
of  writings,  which  had  been  collected  and  equated 
and  handed  over  to  "  the  heirs  of  the  apostles," 
as  the  final  authority  in  establishing  the  truth. 
For  them  the  apostolic  college  was  not  a  publish- 
ing house,  and  the  twelve  followers  of  Christ  had 
not  filled  up  the  measure  of  truth.  Indeed  their 
norm  of  authority  is  not  apostolic  at  all.  Many 
of  them,  like  the  author  of  the  pseudo  Cyprian 
treatise,  ''  De  Aleatoribus,"  who  was  doubtless  a 
writer  of  this  period,  estimate  the  prophetic  writ- 
ings of  the  Old  Testament,  together  with  the 
books  of  the  Christian  prophets,  more  highly 
than  any  other  class  of  writings.    These  constitute 

47 


48  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

the  *'  divine  Scriptures,"  the  "  sayings  of  the  Lord 
through  the  prophets."  They  are  of  even  greater 
importance  than  the  Gospels,  inasmuch*  as  they 
contain  more  directly  the  teaching  of  Christ, 
than  the  simple  historical  account  of  v^hat  he 
said  in  Galilee.  Still  other  writers  regarded  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks  as  a  source  of  revela- 
tion, and  admitted  that  whatever  was  true  must 
have  been  inspired.  Their  Bible  was  the  whole 
range  of  truth,  and  anything  that  commended  it- 
self to  them  as  Christian  was  regarded  as  a 
revelation. 

Let  us  take  a  few  concrete  examples.  Theophi- 
lus  of  Antioch,  bishop  of  that  important  See  in  the 
East,  represents  an  attitude  that  was  very  com- 
mon in  the  second  century,  in  places  where  the 
church  came  into  contact  with  Greek  culture.  In 
the  second  book  to  his  friend  Autolycus,  he  de- 
clares that  the  sibyl  has  been  a  bearer  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  the  Greeks,  as  was  the  prophet  to  the 
Hebrews.'  This  belief  was  very  common  among 
the  early  apologists.  The  effort  to  reconcile  cer- 
tain elements  of  Greek  philosophy  with  the  Chris- 
tian system  gave  birth  to  this  theory.  It  was  en- 
tirely consonant   with   the  common  belief   in  a 

*  To  Autolycus,  II.,  9. 


THE    PERIOD   OF    CONFUSION  49 

continuance  of  the  prophetic  gift.  The  ground 
of  authority  to  men  hke  Theophilus  is  well  illus- 
trated by  words  like  these,  "  Wherefore  the  holy 
Scriptures  teach  us,  as  do  all  the  Spirit-bearing 
men,  one  of  whom,  John,  says."  ^  He  has  no 
fixed  and  definite  norm  save  that  of  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Spirit,  which  is  just  as  possible  in  a 
Greek  sibyl,  as  in  an  apostle.  Such  an  attitude, 
on  the  part  of  the  occupant  of  the  most  important 
See  in  the  East,  is  very  significant.  An  educated 
Greek  who  embraced  Christianity  would  natu- 
rally weave  into  his  argument  occasional  quota- 
tions from  the  cultured  writers  of  his  native 
tongue.  That  these  quotations  should  be  looked 
upon  as  authoritative  and  inspired  utterances 
shows  clearly  how  wide  was  the  notion  of  sacred 
literature  in  Antioch.  Theophilus  quotes  apocry- 
phal sayings  of  Christ,  without  designating  them 
as  such.^  His  first  and  second  books  are  filled 
with  Pauline  ideas  and  phrases  that  are  mixed 
into  the  argument  in  a  most  free  and  easy  man- 
ner, with  no  attempt  at  literal  accuracy.  It  is 
very  evident  that  the  thought  in  the  mind  of 
Theophilus  is  that  he  is  quoting  a  "  Spirit-bearing 
man,"   and  not  bolstering  up  his  argument  by 

1  To  Autolycus,  II.,  22.  2  Jq  Autolycus,  II.,  34- 

D 


50  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

reference  to  authoritative  documents.  It  is  the 
*'  voice  of  the  gospel  "  that  is  all  important  to 
him/ 

Serapion,  who  became  bishop  of  Antioch  about 
A.  D.  190,  a  man  of  considerable  influence  and  the 
author  of  many  writings,  represents  a  distinct 
advance  upon  Theophilus.  Discussions  of  theo- 
logical questions  had  arisen  in  the  diocese,  and 
there  was  a  demand  for  a  little  more  definite 
ground  of  authority.  This  ground  Serapion  lays 
down  in  the  words,  "  For  we,  brethren,  receive 
both  Peter  and  the  other  apostles  as  Christ."  But 
the  bishop  shows  how  far  Antioch  was  from  pos- 
sessing a  settled  canon  of  authority,  when  he  says 
of  the  Gospel  of  Peter,  "  As  I  had  not  read  the 
Gospel  which  they  put  forth  under  the  name  of 
Peter,  I  said,  *  If  this  is  the  only  thing  which  oc- 
casions littleness  of  soul  among  you,  let  it  be 
read.'  "  ^  The  whole  quarrel  of  his  flock  over  this 
particular  form  of  the  gospel  narrative  he  re- 
garded as  a  "  littleness  of  soul."  His  final  reason 
for  the  rejection  of  this  Gospel  was  not  because  he 
had  come  to  learn  that  the  number  of  the  Gospels 
was  limited  to  four,  but  because  in  this  Gospel  he 
believed  that  the  narrative  had  been  tampered 

^  To   Autolycus,   III.,    13.  ^  Eusebius,   H.   E.,   VI.,    12. 


THE    PERIOD   OF    CONFUSION  5 1 

with  in  the  interest  of  a  sect  that  was  heretical.  If 
no  such  tendency  had  been  found  in  it,  it  would 
have  been  as  authoritative  as  any  other  traditional 
form  of  gospel  history.  He  thought  he  found  ele- 
ments of  Docetism  in  this  Gospel,  and  banished 
it  from  his  church  for  reasons  very  similar  to 
those  which  led  the  Alogi  to  reject  the  Gospel  of 
John. 

An  important  witness  to  the  origin  of  the  New 
Testament  canon  is  Tatian,  a  strolling  rhetori- 
cian who  became  converted  to  Christianity  in 
Rome.  Sometime  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second 
century  he  went  to  Syria  as  a  missionary,  and  con- 
structed a  Gospel  that  was  called  the  "  Diatessa- 
ron  "  ('*out  of  four").^  This  document  held 
its  place  as  an  authoritative  Gospel  in  the  Syrian 
churches  for  two  whole  centuries.  Theodoret, 
who  was  bishop  of  Cyrrhus,  in  Syria,  during  the 
early  part  of  the  fifth  century,  says  that  in  his 
diocese  alone  he  caused  more  than  two  hundred 
copies  to  be  withdrawn.  It  is  just  such  a  book 
as  a  missionary  would  prepare,  who  wished  to 
present  the  gospel  story  to  a  new  people  in  as  con- 
cise and  clear  a  manner  as  possible.    Undoubtedly 

iZahn,  "  Tatian's  Diatessaron,"  Erlangen,  1881.  Julicher,  "  Ein- 
leitung  i.  d.  N.  T."  S  300.  Hemphill,  "  The  Diatessaron  of  Tatian," 
London,   1888.     Edition  by  Harris.  London,  1890. 


52  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Tatian  constructed  this  book  in  Rome,  and  took  it 
with  him  to  Syria.  The  importance  of  the  Diates- 
saron  as  a  witness  to  the  fact  that  the  number  of 
the  Gospels  in  general  use  in  a  certain  part  of  the 
church,  say  Rome,  was  fairly  definitely  fixed  at 
four,  has  obscured  its  other  bearing,  viz.,  on  the 
estimation  in  which  those  Gospels  were  held.  The 
book  is  generally  called  a  ''  harmony,"  but  such  a 
word  is  misleading.  If  we  were  to  publish  such 
a  "  harmony  "  to-day,  and  then  were  to  burn  up 
all  existing  copies  of  the  separate  Gospels,  we 
would  have  an  analogous  state  of  affairs  to  that 
which  existed  in  nearly  all  the  churches  of  Syria 
for  many  years.  No  harmony  is  intended  to  sup- 
plant the  work  which  it  harmonizes.  Tatian's 
work  was  a  creative,  not  an  apologetic  act.  Euse- 
bius  calls  it  a  "  Gospel,"  ^  and  such  it  was.  Pro- 
fessor Moore,  of  Andover,  compares  it  to  the  re- 
daction of  the  Pentateuch,  saying,  *'  It  certainly 
is  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that,  if  the 
Syrian  church  had  been  left  to  itself,  without  con- 
stant contact  with  the  greater  church  of  the  West, 
the  knowledge  of  the  separate  Gospels  might  in 
the  end  have  been  lost,  even  among  the  learned. 
The  parallel   to  the  history  of  the   Pentateuch 

iH.   E.,  IV.,  29.6. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  53 

would  then  have  been  complete."  '  The  Diates- 
saron  was  not  rejected  at  last  by  popular  vote, 
but  was  arbitrarily  uprooted  by  the  arm  of 
authority. 

If,  in  the  days  of  Tatian,  there  had  been  a  New 
Testament  canon,  the  literal  text  of  which  was  re- 
garded as  authoritative,  the  Diatessaron  could 
never  have  had  such  a  history.  It  manifestly  rep- 
resents a  time  when  the  sole  interest  attaching  to 
the  Gospels  was  the  Life  they  revealed,  and  very 
little  regard  was  had  for  their  literary  authorship. 
We  cannot  possibly  suppose  that  the  Syrian 
church  was  far  enough  advanced  in  doctrinal 
strifes  over  the  "  Johannine  Question,"  or  the 
"  Synoptic  Problem,"  to  be  in  need  of  a  "  har- 
mony." If  we  take  the  situation  naturally,  we 
shall  see  that  the  condition  of  the  New  Testament 
in  the  Syrian  churches  was  a  typical  one.  Manu- 
scripts were  scarce ;  churches  were  springing  up ; 
there  was  a  call  for  brevity;  and  so  the  docu- 
ments were  treated  very  freely.  All  our  sources 
point  to  the  fact  that  the  original  Bible  of  the 
Syrian  church  was  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
Diatessaron.      Says  the  "  Doctrine  of  Addaei," 

*  "  Tatian's  Diatessaron  and  the  Pentateuch,"  Journal  of  Bib. 
Lit.  IX.,  209.  For  further  discussion  of  the  Diatessaron  see  Har- 
nack,  "  Zeitschrift  fur  Kirchengeschichte,"  IV.,  471  ff.  "  Texte  und 
Untersuchungen,"  I.,  i,  and  the  pamphlet,   "  Das  Neue  Testament." 


54  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

"  But  many  people  assembled  day  by  day  and 
came  to  the  prayer  of  the  service,  and  to  the  read- 
ing of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  viz.,  the 
Diatessaron." '  This  attitude  is  almost  exactly 
analogous  to  the  development  in  the  rest  of  Chris- 
tendom, where  the  first  ground  of  authority  was 
"  the  teaching  of  the  Lord."  The  only  desire  for 
any  documentary  authority  was  for  the  assistance 
it  might  give  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  religious 
life,  and  the  Diatessaron  was  sufficient  for  this. 
In  later  years,  when  the  Syrian  church  became 
interested  in  theological  matters,  it  split  up  into 
two  factions,  a  Bardensian  party  and  an  ortho- 
dox party,  that  almost  completes  the  analogy  to 
the  prior  development  in  the  church  at  large. 

If  we  turn  to  Justin  Martyr,  who  was  Tatian's 
teacher  in  Rome,  we  find  almost  no  use  made  of 
any  Christian  writing  except  the  Gospels.  For 
Justin  there  is  but  one  source  of  authority,  the 
divine  Logos.  It  was  the  Logos  who  spake 
through  the  prophets  of  old.''  It  was  the  Logos 
who  was  the  essence  of  that  authority  to  which 
he  appeals  so  frequently,  "  the  Spirit  of  Proph- 
ecy." '    Of  the  Old  Testament  writers  Justin  says 

*  English  translation  by  Phillips,  London,  1876,  p.  34. 

'  Apology,  I.,  34,  36. 

•Apology,  I.,  35.  36,  39,  41,  42,  44.  5^.  59.  60,  63;  Dial.,  43,  etc. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  55 

that  they  did  not  speak  their  utterances  them- 
selves, but  by  the  divine  Logos  who  moved 
them."  ^  There  is  no  definite  and  estabhshed  num- 
ber of  Christian  writings  to  which  this  same 
thought  is  appHed.  The  Christian  documents  are 
useful  to  Justin  chiefly  as  a  confirmatory  record 
of  what  was  foretold  by  the  "  Spirit  of  Proph- 
ecy," and  as  a  repository  of  the  instruction  of 
Christ  He  uses  the  "  Acts  of  Pilate  "  ^  and  the 
''  Preaching  of  Paul  "  ^  (or  perhaps  the  Ebionite 
Gospel)  as  authentic  records,  like  the  Gospels, 
for  proving  that  the  predictions  of  the  prophets 
in  regard  to  Christ  were  correct.  Of  course,  Jus- 
tin makes  no  distinction  between  the  revelations 
of  the  Logos  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  his  more 
recent  utterances  and  manifestations  in  the  per- 
son of  Christ.  He  is  never  led  into  a  discussion 
of  the  question  whether  Christianity  is  a  new  and 
independent  revelation.  Indeed,  in  one  place,  he 
makes  the  prophets  sponsors  for  the  writers  of  the 
Gospels,  asserting  that  he  believes  the  things  hand- 
ed down  by  those  who  have  recorded  what  con- 
cerns our  Saviour,  because  through  Isaiah  "  the 
Prophetic  Spirit "  has  declared  the  same  things.* 
In  his  dialogue  with  Trypho  the  Jew,  where  he 

*  Apology,  I.,  36.    '  Apology,  I.,  35,  48.   ^  Dial.,  88.   *  Apology,  I.,  33. 


56  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

is  constantly  led  into  asserting  that  there  is  no 
salvation  save  through  Christ,  that  the  ceremonial 
law  of  Israel  is  unnecessary,  that  Christ  is  useless 
to  those  who  keep  the  law,  and  that  the  ancients 
who  were  righteous  under  the  law  were  saved 
through  Christ,  there  is  not  one  passage  which  we 
can  definitely  fix  as  a  quotation  from  the  Epistles 
of  Paul.  Indeed,  in  all  the  writings  of  Justin  we 
cannot  find  a  quotation  from  any  New  Testament 
writing,  except  the  Gospels.  His  only  Christian 
source  of  authority  is  to  be  found  in  such  expres- 
sions as  the  following,  in  which  he  abounds,  that 
the  Christians  worship  God,  "  and  the  Son  who 
came  forth  from  him  and  taught  us  these 
things  " ;  ^  that  ''  our  teacher  of  these  things  is 
Jesus  Christ,  who  was  born  for  this  purpose  " ;  ^ 
that  Christians  are  "  taught  by  Christ  and  the 
prophets  who  preceded  him  " ;  ^  and  that  since 
their  "  persuasion  by  the  Word  "  *  they  live  "  con- 
formably to  the  good  precepts  of  Christ,"  ^  who 
"  declares  whatever  we  ought  to  know."  ^ 

So  little  is  Justin  ruled  by  the  idea  of  a  definite 
deposit  of  authoritative  tradition,  that  he  declares 
that  "  every  race  of  men  are  partakers  "  of  the 

^Apology,   I.,   6,    13.  'Apology,    I.,    13.  'Apology,    I.,   23. 

*  Apology,    I.,    14.  B  Apology,    I.,    14.  « Apology,    I.,    63. 


THE    PERIOD   OF    CONFUSION  57 

Logos,  and  that  all  who  have  lived  according 
to  the  divine  Logos  are  Christians.  Among  the 
Greeks  such  men  as  Socrates  and  Heraclitus  are 
to  be  so  classed/  He  tells  the  emperor,  in  his 
Apology,  that  he  does  not  wish  to  weary  him  by 
repeating  all  the  names  of  those  Greek  and  Ro- 
man worthies  who  have  been  guided  and  inspired 
by  the  Word.  They  knew  the  Logos,  but  they 
did  not  know  the  whole  Logos,  which  is  Christ." 
"  Christ,"  he  says,  "  was  partially  known  even  by 
Socrates."  ^  "  The  Logos,  who  taught  in  Soc- 
rates, afterward  took  shape  and  became  man,  and 
was  called  Jesus  Christ."  *  Stoics,  poets,  his- 
torians, and  the  followers  of  Plato,  all  ''  spake 
well  in  proportion  to  the  share  they  had  in  the 
spermatic  Logos."  ®  The  sibyls  and  Hystaspes 
also  partook  of  the  same  revelation.®  The  differ- 
ence between  all  these  and  the  Christian  revela- 
tion is  that  the  latter  is  "  fuller  and  more  di- 
vine." ^  This  stand,  that  "  there  are  seeds  of 
truth  among  all  men,"  ^  which  the  church 
abandoned  when  she  began  to  form  a  hierarchy, 
was  very  common  in  the  early  apologists.     That 

1  Apology,  I.,  46;   II.,  8,   10.  2  Apology,  II.,   10. 

'Apology,   II.,    10.  *  Apology,   I.,   s-  '^Apology,   II.,    10. 

« Apology,    I.,    20.  ■f  Apology,    I.,    20.  » Apology,    I.,   44. 


58  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Christians  know  the  truth  better  than  others  Jus- 
tin proves  from  this  fact — not  that  they  have  re- 
ceived it  from  the  apostles  who  were  given  the 
authority  to  pubHsh  the  true  tradition — but  be- 
cause there  are  among  them  some  who  do  not 
know  the  form  of  letters,  and  even  some  who  are 
blind,  who  have  arrived  at  the  highest  height  of 
the  attainments  of  the  philosophers,  inspired  di- 
rectly by  God/  There  is  very  little  conception  of 
a  closed  canon  of  revelation  in  such  an  argument 
as  that.  Eusebius  assures  us  that  Justin  over- 
shadowed all  the  great  men  who  illumined  the 
second  century,  by  the  splendor  of  his  name/  He 
can  be  taken  as  a  certain  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
in  the  year  a.  d.  150  the  church  in  Rome  did  not 
possess  a  new  collection  of  documents  that  could 
be  placed  side  by  side  with  the  Old  Testament,  as 
a  canon  of  authority.  Aside  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Justin  knows  nothing  whatever  of  any  au- 
thority, save  that  which  comes  from  the  life  and 
teaching  of  Christ. 

A  similar  testimony  is  borne  by  Hegesippus, 
who  wrote  his  "  Memoirs  "  under  Bishop  Eleu- 
therus,  in  Rome,  somewhere  about  the  year  a.  d. 
170.     He  says  that  in  every  city  that  is  held 

*  Apology,  I.,  60.  2  Eusebius,  H.   E.,  L.,  4,   11, 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  59 

"  which  is  preached  by  the  Law  and  the  Prophets 
and  the  Lord."  ^  A  later  writer  greatly  strength- 
ens this  testimony  by  quoting  Hegesippus  as  say- 
ing that  certain  men  falsely  interpret  "  both  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Lord."  ^  We  possess  but 
a  fragment  or  two  of  the  writings  of  this  author, 
which  have  been  preserved  for  us  by  Eusebius 
and  Photius,  and  it  is  very  significant  that  in  such 
scant  material  we  should  find  two  distinct  indi- 
cations that  a  prominent  Roman  writer  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  century  still  held  to  the 
old  norm  of  authority  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  teaching  of  Christ.  In  an  investigation  like 
that  which  we  are  conducting,  this  is  all  the  more 
significant  because  of  the  fact  that  in  later  years, 
when  the  canon  had  been  formed,  there  was  a 
tendency  to  suppress  all  writings  that  tended  to 
undermine  the  conception  that  from  the  very  be- 
ginning the  church  had  possessed  a  closed  col- 
lection of  authoritative  and  apostolic  documents. 
If  we  turn  to  Afnca  we  find  the  condition  of 
affairs  very  similar  to  that  which  obtained  in  the 
West.  The  words  and  doings  of  Christ  were  re- 
garded as  authoritative,  but  there  was  no  fixed 
collection  of  documents  conveying  to  the  world 

» Eusebius,  H.  E.,  IV.,  22,  3.        'Photius,  Bibliotheca,  Cod.,  232. 


6o  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

his  teaching  and  his  Hfe,  much  less  any  group  of 
letters  written  by  apostles,  from  which  it  was 
legitimate  to  draw  doctrines  and  precedents.  In 
the  **  Acts  of  the  Martyrs  of  Scillis  "  the  accused 
Christians  are  asked  by  the  proconsul,  *'  What 
sort  of  things  are  contained  in  your  chests?  "  and 
they  answer,  "  The  Books  that  are  in  use  among 
us ;  and  in  addition  to  these  the  epistles  of  a  holy 
man  named  Paul."  This  separation  of  ''  Books," 
(or  "Scriptures")  and  *' epistles "  indicates 
that  to  their  mind  the  epistolary  form  of  litera- 
ture was  not  quite  on  a  level  with  the  historical. 
Such  a  separation  was  very  general.  It  is  not 
probable  that  any  Epistles  were  read  in  public 
worship  in  the  second  century.  They  were  con- 
sidered to  be  more  for  private  perusal  and  for 
particular  instruction.  While  the  Gospels  slowly 
grew  into  a  position  of  authority  as  a  result  of 
being  read  so  continuously  in  the  churches,  the 
public  reading  of  the  Epistles  seems  to  have  come 
only  after  they  were  established  as  authoritative 
writings.  This  may  account  for  Justin's  lack  of 
familiarity  with  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  as  well  as 
the  slight  influence  of  Pauline  conceptions  upon 
the  growing  hierarchy  of  the  second  century.^ 

^  See  Cambridge  Texts  and  Studies,  I.,  io6  ff. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  6l 

Another  witness  from  Africa  is  that  of  the 
''  Gospel  according  to  the  Egyptians."  This  book 
bears  precisely  the  same  testimony  to  the  esti- 
mation in  which  the  early  documents  were  held 
as  that  borne  by  the  Diatessaron  of  Tatian.  It 
appears  to  have  been  a  compilation  of  two  Gos- 
pels, that  were  substantially  like  our  Matthew  and 
Luke,  being  in  the  interest  of  asceticism.  It  was 
much  used  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century, 
wherever  this  tendency  was  prominent.  The 
great  influence  and  circulation  of  the  book  was 
no  doubt  due  to  the  ascetic  spirit  that  ruled  in  the 
churches  throughout  Africa.  It  was  used  by  the 
Gnostics '  and  the  Encratites  "^  as  a  recognized 
source  of  Christian  teaching  and  authority.  The 
homily  called  the  Second  Epistle  of  Clement 
quotes  from  it  as  from  the  other  Gospels.  It  was 
probably  regarded  by  the  writer  of  the  Didache 
as  a  source  of  teaching  of  the  Lord.  Clement 
of  Alexandria  quoted  from  it.^  Even  as  late  as 
the  third  century  the  Sabellians  appealed  to  it, 
as  to  an  authority.*  The  book  bears  a  striking 
testimony  to  the  freedom  with  which  the  gospel 
narrative  and  tradition  was  used,  even  to  serve  a 

^  Hippolytus,  Philosophumena,  V.,  7. 

*  Clement,   Stromata,   III.,  9,   13.     Exc.  ex  Thedoto,  67. 

•  Strom.,  III.,  9.  *  Epiphanius,  Haer.,  62,  2. 


62  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

particular  interest.  Such  a  book  could  not  have 
been  written  in  an  age  when  the  form  of  the  gos- 
pel story  was  fixed  and  definite,  and  when  its 
very  letter  was  regarded  as  of  canonical  au- 
thority. The  title,  ''  Gospel  according  to  the 
Egyptians,"  together  with  the  fact  of  its  great 
authority  in  that  part  of  the  Christian  church, 
shows  that  men  saw  nothing  incongruous  in  that 
day  in  molding  the  form  of  the  gospel  narrative 
to  meet  the  needs  of  a  particular  portion  of  the 
church.  Clement  valued  it  very  highly,  but  after 
a  careful  examination  decided  that  it  was  not  to 
be  put  upon  a  level  with  the  four  Gospels  gener- 
ally recognized.  In  this  he  was  not  governed  by 
the  thought  that  the  number  was  fixed  at  four, 
but  by  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  dangerous 
tendencies  in  the  book  itself. 

Qement,  who  became  head' of  the  catechetical 
school  in  Alexandria  about  the  year  a.  d.  189 
is  himself  an  excellent  witness  to  the  attitude  of  a 
cultured  Greek  toward  the  source  of  Christian 
authority.  He  boasted  that  he  was  a  "  Gnostic," 
i.  e.,  a  ''  knowledge-seeker,"  and  was  in  search  of 
a  system  of  Christian  truth.  In  this  he  marks  a 
distinct  advance  upon  any  previous  writer  quoted 
in  our  investigation.     Justin  was  simply  writing 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  63 

an  apology  to  the  emperor,  endeavoring  to  justify 
Christianity  as  a  movement.  Clement  was  en- 
deavoring to  construct  a  systematic  theology. 
What  documents  he  regards  as  legitimate  sources 
of  authority,  is  therefore  a  question  of  great  im- 
portance. No  writer  in  the  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity, whose  works  have  been  preserved  for  us 
possessed  a  wider  canon  than  Clement.  Wher- 
ever he  found  truth,  there  was  to  him  authority. 
He  was  a  "  Sicilian  bee,"  whose  home  was  among 
the  flowers  in  the  great  meadows  of  God,  he  de- 
clared. So  he  abounds  in  quotations  from  every 
source.  '*  The  beginning  of  knowledge,"  he  says, 
"  is  wondering  at  objects,  as  Plato  says  in  the 
Theaetetus ;  and  Matthias,  exhorting  in  the  '  Tra- 
ditions,' says,  *  Wonder  at  what  is  before  you.' 
So  also  in  the  Gospel  to  the  Hebrews  it  is  written, 
*  He  that  wonders  shall  reign.'  "  ^  This  is  a  char- 
acteristic passage.  Plato  is  authority.  The  Gos- 
pel to  the  Hebrews  is  used  with  the  introduction 
common  only  to  quotations  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, "  It  is  written."  The  "  Traditions  of 
Matthias  "  is  just  as  valuable  in  establishing  a 
doctrine  as  any  other  document.  He  speaks  of 
"  Barnabas  the  apostle,"  and  regards  his  epistle 

^  Strom.,  II.,  9. 


64  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

as  an  authoritative  document/  He  introduces  a 
citation  from  I  Clement  with  the  solemn  words, 
"  It  is  written  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians," 
and  "  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  the  Apostle 
Clement  says."  -  He  regarded  the  Preaching  of 
Peter  as  a  source  of  authentic  apostolic  history.^ 
In  one  place  he  has  a  long  dissertation  upon  the 
use  this  document  makes  of  the  words  ''  according 
to  the  Greeks."  He  uses  these  words  just  as  early 
Christian  writers  used  expressions  from  the  Old 
Testament  in  his  endeavor  to  establish  the  impor- 
tant doctrine  that  a  revelation  was  made  to  the 
Greeks.  Evidently  he  had  no  idea  that  his  op- 
ponents would  dispute  the  fact  that  the  Preach- 
ing of  Peter  was  an  authoritative  Christian 
book.  Of  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  he  says, 
*'  The  divine  power  which  appeared  in  the  vision 
to  Hermas  declared."  *  Then  follows  an  extended 
allegorical  interpretation  of  this  divine  revelation. 
He  also  held  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter  in  very 
high  esteem,  quoting  it  with  the  words,  "  The 
Scripture  says."  ^  He  regards  the  writings  of 
the  sibyl  and  Hystaspes  as  Scripture.     ''  Since, 

*  Strom.,  II.,  6,  7. 

^  Strom.,  IV.,   17.     See  Euseb.,  H.   E.,  VI.,   13  and  14. 
'Strom.,  I.,  29;  II.,  15;  VI.,  5,  6,  7,  15. 

*  Strom.,  I.,  29;  see  Strom.,  II.,  i ;  XL,  15. 
^  Eclogae  ex  Scrip.  Proph..  41,  48,  49. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  65 

therefore,  just  as  God  wished  to  save  the  Jews 
by  giving  them  prophets,  so  also  he  distinguished 
the  most  excellent  of  the  Greeks  from  the  com- 
mon herd  by  raising  up  prophets  of  their  own,  in 
their  own  tongue,  as  they  were  able  to  receive 
God's  beneficence.  Besides  the  Preaching  of 
Peter  the  Apostle  Paul  reveals  this  to  us,  say- 
ing, '  Take  also  of  the  Hellenic  books,  read  the 
sibyl,  how  it  is  shown  that  God  is  one  and  how 
the  future  is  revealed.  And  taking  Hystaspes, 
read  and  you  will  find  much  more  luminously  and 
distinctly  the  Son  of  God  described.'  "  ^  And 
again,  ''  Wherefore  Peter  says  that  the  Lord  said 
to  the  apostles,  '  If  any  one  of  Israel,  then,  wishes 
to  repent  and  by  my  name  to  believe  in  God,  his 
sins  shall  be  forgiven  him  after  twelve  years.'  " 
Where  did  Clement  get  these  sayings  of  Paul  and 
Peter?  Of  their  documentary  source  we  are 
entirely  ignorant,  and  yet  he  uses  them  as 
sources  of  apostolic  doctrine,  just  as  valuable  as 
any  words  quoted  from  a  book  that  has  come 
down  to  us.  His  was  a  very  large  canon.  He 
cites  words  from  the  Didache  with  the  intro- 
duction, "  It  is  declared  by  the  Scriptures."  ^ 
We  have  already  seen  that  he  used  the  Gospel 

*  Strom.,  VI.,  5.  '  Strom.,  I.,  20. 

E 


66  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

according  to  the  Egyptians  very  freely.  He  very 
often  quotes  the  saying  of  Christ,  "  Be  skilful 
money  changers,"  as  "  Scripture."  ^  He  speaks  of 
the  Epicurean  Methodorus  as  "  inspired."  ^  But 
far  more  important  than  his  reference  to  any  sin- 
gle writer,  or  his  quotation  from  any  single  docu- 
ment, is  the  fundamental  principle  of  authority 
which  he  expresses  so  often  in  words  like  these, 
*'  All  things  necessary  and  profitable  for  life  come 
to  us  from  God,  and  philosophy  more  especially 
was  given  to  the  Greeks,  as  a  covenant  peculiar  to 
them,  being,  as  it  is,  a  stepping-stone  to  the  philos- 
ophy which  is  according  to  Christ."  ^  "  So,  then, 
the  barbarian  and  Hellenic  philosophy  has  torn  off 
a  fragment  of  eternal  truth  from  the  theology 
of  the  ever-living  Word."  *  Clement  is  utterly 
lacking  in  the  conception  that  Christian  theology 
must  justify  itself  by  a  reference  to  apostolic  writ- 
ings. He  represents  an  attitude  common  not  only 
to  men  like  Justin,  and  Theophilus  of  Antioch, 
and  other  early  apologists,  but  to  the  men  who 
were  cast  out  of  the  church  as  Gnostics.  The 
first  efforts  at  an  eclecticism  that  should  make  the 
Christian  religion  square  with  Greek  philosophy, 

^  Strom.,  I.,  28;  II.,  4;  v.,   10.  2  Strom.,  V.,  14. 

«  Strom.,  V^L,  8.    ♦Strom.,  I.,  13.     See  I.,  5,  19;   VI.,  5,  8,  11,  17. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  67 

were  without  a  definite  ground  of  authority.  Nat- 
urally some  men  carried  this  principle  of  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Greeks  by  the  Word  of  God  to 
greater  lengths  than  did  Justin  and  Clement. 
The  principle,  however,  was  precisely  the  same. 
The  question  is  simply  this,  "  In  our  efforts  to 
systematize  Christian  truth  shall  we  be  limited 
in  the  sources  from  which  we  can  draw  for 
authoritative  statements?"  To  this  Clement 
answered,  *'  No."  The  question  did  not  occur 
to  Justin  as  definitely,  because  in  presenting  a 
resume  of  Christianity  to  those  in  authority,  in 
order  to  stop  that  very  persecution  to  which  he 
eventually  fell  a  victim,  he  found  that  the  gospel 
narratives  furnished  him  all  the  material  he 
needed.  This  was  true  of  all  the  apologists. 
Though  the  very  rise  of  defenders  of  the  new 
faith  tended  to  establish  more  firmly  the  authority 
of  certain  Christian  writings,  because  of  an  ap- 
peal to  them  in  controversy,  still  this  appeal  was 
so  simple  that  books  like  the  Epistles  of  Paul, 
that  contained  almost  no  tradition  of  the  teaching 
of  Christ,  were  not  dragged  into  the  controversy. 
It  was  left  to  other  movements  to  bring  these 
documents  into  prominence. 

We  have  reached  the  following  conclusion  by 


68  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

our  investigation:  That  about  the  year  a.  d.  150, 
in  Rome,  and  much  later  in  the  East,  there  was 
no  definite  collection  of  documents,  which  had 
been  collected  and  equated,  and  bound  up  into  a 
single  volume  whose  legal  validity  was  equal  to 
that  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  there  were  cer- 
tain movements  in  the  church  which  tended  this 
way.  Men  were  writing  to  Roman  officials,  en- 
deavoring to  convince  them  that  the  new  move- 
ment was  by  no  means  the  revolutionary  and 
inhuman  affair  it  was  reported  to  be.  This  de- 
fense, being  of  necessity  more  or  less  systematic, 
led  to  an  appeal  to  history,  and  so  called  to  the 
front  authoritative  documents.  The  Gospels  sup- 
plied this  need  fully,  and  all  during  this  period 
very  little  use  was  made  of  epistles.  Not  one 
quotation  from  this  form  of  literature  can  be 
found  in  the  writings  of  Justin.  Although  other 
writers  occasionally  refer  to  epistles,  no  attention 
is  called  to  the  personality  of  the  author,  nor  is 
he  lifted  in  any  way  above  the  great  mass  of 
Christian  teachers.  The  only  Christian  authority 
is  Christ,  and  the  men  he  has  inspired  to  carry 
on  his  teaching  and  work.  That  this  authority 
has  been  delegated  to  apostles,  and  by  them  in 
turn  to  the  constituted  officers  of  an  organization. 


THE    PERIOD   OF    CONFUSION  69 

is  a  claim  we  do  not  find  during  the  early  part  of 
the  second  century.  Much  less  do  we  find  the 
idea  that  the  apostles  were  given  the  task  of  writ- 
ing down  the  memorials  of  the  time  of  Christ  and 
publishing  them  in  a  closed  book,  upon  which 
there  was  a  copyright.  The  early  church  took  it 
for  granted  that  any  book  that  edified  was  in- 
spired by  the  Spirit.  In  later  years  this  norm 
was  exactly  reversed,  and  only  those  books  which 
were  decided  upon  as  inspired  were  allowed  to 
be  used  for  edification.  The  early  church  took  it 
for  granted  that  all  teachers  and  prophets  who 
"  spake  with  authority  "  were  the  natural  suc- 
cessors of  the  apostles.  In  later  years  this  norm 
was  exactly  reversed,  and  only  the  constituted 
successors  of  the  apostles  were  allowed  to  speak 
with  authority.  These  two  movements  went  hand 
in  hand.  As  long  as  the  church  supposed  herself 
in  possession  of  the  natural  successors  of  the 
apostles,  who  taught  as  they  were  inspired  by  the 
living  Word,  she  never  imagined  that  it  was  nec- 
essary to  justify  her  power  or  her  methods  by  a 
reference  to  the  "  last  will  and  testament "  of  the 
apostles. 

But  this  condition  of  affairs  was  not  destined 
to  last.    The  dying  out  of  the  old  expectation  of 


\ 


70  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

a  return  of  Christ  on  clouds  of  glory,  and  the 
consequent  cooling  down  of  feverish  hopes,  gave 
birth  to  more  settled  and  mechanical  methods  in 
church  organization.  As  a  result  men  began  to  ap- 
peal to  the  historical  sayings  of  Christ  more,  and  a 
little  less  dependence  was  put  upon  the  words  of 
every  passing  prophet.  However,  it  was  far 
down  in  the  second  century,  as  we  have  seen,  be- 
fore this  appeal  to  the  words  and  deeds  of  Christ 
became  wrapped  up  in  documents.  Old  men  were 
living  who  had  seen  the  apostles.  Any  oral  tra- 
dition that  touched  the  Life  of  lives  was  very 
highly  prized.  But  this  was  a  vanishing  norm. 
Its  decrease  was  accompanied  by  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  emphasis  put  upon  the  written 
memorials.  Papias  is  a  witness  to  the  fact  that 
at  first  very  little  attention  was  paid  to  the  au- 
thorship or  validity  of  these  documents.  It  was 
enough  that  they  bore  the  name  of  an  apostle,  or 
the  disciple  of  an  apostle.  "  Of  course  I  accept 
the  word  of  Peter,"  is  the  assurance  which  Ser- 
apion  gives  his  flock;  but  he  has  grave  doubts 
whether  Peter  wrote  the  Gospel  existing  under 
his  name,  at  any  rate  in  its  present  form. 

Another  necessity  about  this  time  drove  the 
church  into  a  stronger  emphasis  upon  her  written 


THE    PERIOD   OF   CONFUSION  7 1 

memorials.  Complications  with  the  public  of- 
ficials of  the  Roman  government  arose,  as  Chris- 
tianity spread  and  became  powerful.  Grave  ru- 
mors were  circulated  by  her  enemies,  of  horrible 
rites,  like  the  drinking  of  blood,  performed  as 
part  of  her  worship.  Investigations  and  persecu- 
tions arose.  In  defending  herself  she  put  forth 
certain  champions  who  were  acquainted  not  only 
with  her  own  life  and  teaching,  but  with  the  cus- 
toms and  culture  of  the  pagan  world.  These 
men  did  not  cast  off  entirely  their  old  ways  of 
living  and  thinking  when  they  entered  the  church. 
Justin,  for  example,  even  after  he  became  a  Chris- 
tian teacher,  went  about  still  wearing  the  garb 
of  a  Platonic  philosopher.  In  defending  Chris- 
tianity, therefore,  it  was  natural  that  men  who 
had  been  educated  in  pagan  philosophy  should 
endeavor  to  retain  as  much  of  their  old  thought 
as  was  consistent  with  their  comprehension  of  the 
new  faith.  Many  of  these  men,  whose  names  are 
to  this  day  on  the  list  of  the  saints  of  the  church, 
did  not  hesitate  to  affirm  unequivocally  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Greek  philosophers.  They  had  no 
thought  that  in  so  doing  they  were  untrue  to 
Christ.  The  Platonic  doctrine  of  the  Logos,  in  its 
conception  as  the  informing  and  inspiring  Word, 


72  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

was  not  only  regarded  as  not  inconsistent  with  the 
Christian  revelation,  but  was  considered  one  of  its 
crucial  principles.  Every  truth,  wherever  found, 
was  a  fragment  of  the  Logos,  a  portion  of  the 
Word  of  God.  This  Word  was  Christ.  He  was 
the  source  of  all  knowledge  and  all  truth.  In 
thus  affirming  that  the  inspiration  of  Socrates 
was  received  from  Christ  they  thought  to  exalt 
the  latter. 

As  events  proved,  this  principle  of  eclecticism 
gave  rise  to  endless  complications.  To  what  an 
extreme  it  can  be  carried  can  be  easily  seen  on  the 
pages  of  Philo  Judaeus,  who  applied  the  same 
principle  to  Judaism  in  the  early  part  of  the  first 
century,  and  found  so  much  of  the  Platonic 
philosophy  in  the  Pentateuch  that  it  is  hard  to 
tell,  as  one  reads,  whether  his  heart  is  with  Plato 
or  with  Moses.  It  was  inevitable,  when  Christian 
teachers  began  to  manifest  this  same  tendency, 
that  the  church  should  begin  to  feel  a  little  un- 
easy about  some  of  the  leaders.  Were  they 
Christian  or  were  they  pagan?  Did  they  not 
lean  too  far  to  the  side  of  the  philosophers  ?  Was 
there  not  danger  that  the  gospel  narrative  would 
soon  be  placed  side  by  side  with  the  myths  of 
Greece  ? 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CONFUSION  73 

The  eclectic  method  which  these  men  used, 
was  apphed  not  only  to  apologetics,  but  to  sys- 
tematic theology  as  well.  In  times  of  peace, 
or  in  lands  where  there  was  little  persecution, 
men  were  endeavoring  to  see  how  much  of  the 
old  cosmologies  they  could  find  in  documents  that 
were  accepted  as  authoritative  by  the  church. 
They  were  entirely  sincere  and  earnest  in  this. 
They  did  not  feel  satisfied  or  contented  in  a 
church  that  possessed  no  system  of  theology.  A 
man  who  came  over  to  Christianity  from  some 
school  of  thought  would  naturally  try  to  win  over 
his  old  associates  by  showing  the  superiority  of 
the  new  system  to  the  old.  He  would  retain  the 
essential  elements  of  his  philosophy,  and  endeavor 
to  read  them  into  the  Christian  documents.  Thus 
an  entirely  new  basis  for  Christianity  was  formed. 
Instead  of  being  an  appeal  to  the  heart,  it  began 
to  shift  its  emphasis  to  the  understanding.  And 
this  new  basis,  as  the  number  of  these  men  multi- 
plied, gave  birth  to  a  new  use  of  the  Christian 
documents.  Just  as  Philo  found  the  whole  system 
of  Plato  in  the  books  accepted  as  authoritative 
among  his  people,  so  the  teachers  of  Christianity 
now  began  to  find  their  own  documents  replete 
with  the  thoughts  and  dogmas  of  the  various 


74  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

schools  of  the  day.  In  this  way  a  means  of  trans- 
formation was  found  by  which  that  intense 
earnestness  of  early  Christianity  which  had  here- 
tofore manifested  itself  in  working  out  great 
moral  and  religious  changes,  could  be  turned  into 
the  establishing  of  a  system  of  metaphysics,  and 
spiritual  enthusiasm  could  be  metamorphosed  into 
theological  intolerance. 

The  student  of  morals  can  hardly  fail  to  lay 
great  stress  upon  this  change.  It  is  extremely 
significant  that  the  first  Christians  to  speculate 
and  to  defend  Christianity  were  so  very  broad  in 
their  conception  of  authority  and  inspiration. 
Theophilus  would  include  Greeks  among  "  the 
Spirit-bearing  men."  Justin  declares  that  Soc- 
rates and  Heraclitus  shared  in  the  inspiration  of 
the  Logos.  Clement,  despite  the  lateness  of  his 
day,  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  philosophy  was  a 
covenant  between  God  and  the  Greeks.  This 
frank  admission  of  an  intellectual  obligation  to 
the  great  sages  of  that  wonderful  land  was  pos- 
sible as  long  as  the  church  was  mainly  interested 
in  transforming  the  lives  of  men.  Her  passionate 
moral  earnestness  stood  in  remarkable  contrast  to 
the  skepticism  and  dilettanteism  of  Roman  tolera- 
tion.   She  could  be  tolerant  too,  just  as  long  as  the 


THE    PERIOD   OF    CONFUSION  75 

two  ideas  of  the  transformation  of  opinions  and 
the  transformation  of  Hfe  were  not  identified. 
But  the  moment  the  Platonic  conception  that 
"  vice  is  ignorance  "  took  possession  of  a  body  so 
full  of  a  deep  and  passionate  regard  for  the  re- 
form of  men,  the  foundation  was  laid  for  one  of 
the  most  fanatical  and  intolerant  systems  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

We  shall  notice  in  the  next  chapter  the  steps 
by  which  this  change  was  brought  about.  Up  to 
the  period  covered  by  our  investigation  thus  far 
Christians  saw  no  incongruity  whatever  in  rec- 
ognizing the  genuine  inspiration  of  all  truth, 
wherever  found,  and  especially  in  the  teachings 
of  the  great  Greeks.  That  those  teachings  had  not 
transformed  the  lives  of  men  more  effectually 
was,  of  course,  supposed  to  be  due  to  their  abstract 
character.  They  were  not  incarnate.  They  were 
without  a  Christ.  They  had  no  dynamic  power. 
Only  the  truth,  as  it  was  radiant  in  the  person  of 
the  Son  of  God,  could  touch  the  springs  of  action. 
Philosophy  was  frozen  truth.  Christ  was  the 
concrete  expression  of  all  revelation,  the  divine 
Logos,  the  sum  total  of  the  wisdom  and  the 
knowledge  of  God.  Did  not  Plato  himself  recog- 
nize in  a  well-known  passage  the  impotence  of 


76  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

philosophy  until  incarnate  in  a  person  to  redeem 
the  human  race  ? 

One  can  scarcely  avoid  a  feeling  of  regret  that 
the  church  ever  abandoned  this  broad  platform  of 
the  apologists  for  the  narrower  conception  of  an 
inspiration  confined  to  a  collection  of  apostolic 
writings.  But  she  felt  that  to  carry  this  spirit  to 
its  logical  conclusion  would  end  by  placing  Christ 
in  a  niche  in  the  Pantheon.  Between  the  spirit 
of  those  philosophers,  who  adorned  their  homes 
with  the  images  of  Pythagoras  and  Cleanthes,  and 
yet  called  themselves  "  Christians/'  and  the  spirit 
of  that  emperor  who  placed  an  image  of  the  Naza- 
rene,  with  the  statues  of  the  philosophers,  in  his 
chamber,  the  gradation  was  slight.  A  mere  in- 
tellectual admiration  did  not  satisfy  the  needs  of 
a  church  so  filled  with  moral  earnestness  and  a 
passion  for  the  redemption  of  the  whole  human 
race.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  church  felt  that 
it  had  to  pass  on  toward  this  goal  over  the  path- 
way of  intolerance,  of  creed  formation,  of  unscru- 
pulous exploitation  of  the  labors  of  the  philos- 
ophers, and  of  the  narrowing  down  of  revelation 
to  a  little  book  that  should  contain  all  the  light 
and  wisdom  of  the  infinite  God. 


IV 
THE  FIRST  THEOLOGIANS 


IV 


IN  endeavoring  to  discover  the  origin  and  to 
trace  the  early  history  of  that  effort  to  give 
Christianity  a  definite  and  fixed  body  of  doctrine,, 
which  was  the  source  of  the  conception  of  a  canon, 
we  at  once  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  a 
very  serious  obstacle.  We  have  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  the  pioneers  in  the  movement,  save 
that  which  has  come  down  to  us  from  their  most 
bitter  opponents,  who  were  endeavoring  to  prove 
that  they  were  the  very  representatives  of  the 
Antichrist.  At  first,  no  doubt,  they  were  ignored 
by  the  church  at  large.  But  as  their  followers  be- 
gan to  multiply,  an  effort  was  made  to  answer 
them — often  by  men  whose  zeal  for  Christianity 
was  far  greater  than  their  knowledge  of  Greek 
philosophy.  As  was  very  natural,  the  effort  of 
these  philosophers  to  reconcile  two  systems 
seemed  to  very  many  to  be  dividing  their  alle- 
giance. They  were  accused  of  possessing  *'  images 
of  Pythagoras,  and  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  and  the 
rest,"  ^  and  it  was  even  hinted  that  they  might 

^  Tertullian,  De  Praescriptione,  42. 

79 


8o  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

worship  them  as  idols.  The  theory  of  Justin  that 
Socrates  and  HeracHtus,  that  the  sibyls  and  Hys- 
taspes,  that  poets  and  historians,  were  all  inspired 
by  the  same  Logos  that  gave  Christianity  to  the 
world,  was  all  right  when  used  as  an  apology  to 
the  emperor,  in  an  effort  to  stay  the  hand  of  per- 
secution. But  when  the  same  theory  was  ad- 
vanced in  the  gatherings  of  the  church,  and  all 
sorts  of  speculative  questions  were  dividing  Chris- 
tians, and  men  began  to  say,  "  I  am  of  Basilides; 
and  I  of  Valentinus;  and  I  of  Heracleon;  and  I 
of  Theodotus,"  then  it  seemed  as  if  the  church 
were  in  danger  of  turning  aside  from  her  great 
purpose,  and  the  accusation  was  brought  against 
these  teachers  that  "  they  made  it  their  business 
not  to  convert  the  heathen,  but  to  subvert  our 
people."  ^  To  the  moral  simplicity  and  earnest- 
ness of  a  purely  missionary  church  it  seemed  as 
if  they  were  trying  to  serve  two  masters.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  they  were  engaged  in  an 
effort  to  make  Christianity  on  its  speculative,  as 
well  as  on  its  moral  side,  a  universal  religion. 
The  spirit  of  that  people  who  spent  their  time 
''  in  nothing  else,  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some 
new  thing,"  and  who  seemed  to  the  Apostle  Paul 

^  Tertullian,   De  Praescriptione,  42. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  8l 

to  be  ''  in  all  things  too  religious,"  had  crept  into 
the  church.  From  now  on  there  could  be  no  rest 
until  a  "  Christian  philosophy  "  was  formulated. 
That  the  pioneers  of  this  movement  had  no  in- 
tention of  forming  a  separate  organization  is 
shown  by  the  words  of  Irenaeus :  "  They  even 
complain  to  us  because,  although  they  hold  doc- 
trines similar  to  ours,  we  without  cause  keep  our- 
selves aloof  from  their  company;  and  although 
they  say  the  same  things  and  hold  the  same  doc- 
trines, we  call  them  heretics."  ^  These  men,  who 
were  called  Gnostics — a  name  which  Clement 
of  Alexandria  was  proud  to  own  because  it  indi- 
cated an  emphasis  upon  knowledge — were  the 
first  systematic  theologians  of  Christianity.  They 
did  not  endeavor  to  enforce  their  conclusions  by 
any  council  or  decree,  but  like  Clement,  they  be- 
lieved in  an  "  esoteric "  Christianity  for  the 
learned,  and  an  "  exoteric  "  for  the  rabble.  This 
was  a  genuine  Greek  conception.  Christianity 
was  to  have  its  "  mysteries."  They  gathered  their 
disciples  around  them  and  taught  the  deeper 
truths.  It  is  almost  impossible  for  us  to  obtain 
any  conception  of  their  teaching,  because  only  its 
most  absurd  and  grotesque  features  have  been 

^Irenaeus,   Contra  Haereses,   III.,   15,  2. 
F 


82  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

preserved  for  us  by  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  and 
Epiphanius.  These  writers  mix  up  the  theories 
of  teacher  and  disciple  in  such  a  hopeless  manner 
that  the  same  man  is  frequently  made  to  utter  the 
most  contradictory  statements.  But  despite  this 
fact,  very  suggestive  passages  frequently  come  to 
light,  and  it  would  be  an  interesting  investigation 
to  trace  the  philosophical  relationship  of  these 
utterances,  and  to  thread  out  of  them  the  Stoic, 
Platonic,  and  Neo-Pythagorean  elements.  We 
might  compare  them  with  the  writings  of  Plotinus 
and  lamblichus,  to  see  how  they  are  related  to 
that  Neo-Platonic  movement  which  was  started 
in  Alexandria  by  Ammonius  Saccas,  a  Christian 
by  birth,  who  relapsed  into  heathenism.  For  ex- 
ample, nothing  could  be  more  Neo-Platonic  than 
the  following,  reported  to  be  the  doctrine  of 
Basilides,  or  his  followers :  "  Since,  therefore, 
nothing  existed — not  matter,  nor  substance,  nor 
anything  insubstantial,  nor  anything  absolute,  nor 
anything  composite,  nor  anything  inconceivable, 
nor  anything  devoid  of  senses,  nor  man,  nor  an- 
gel— when  all  things  are  absolutely  removed — 
a  *  non-existent '  God,  inconceivably,  insensibly, 
indeterminately,  involuntarily,  impassively,  un- 
actuated  by  desire,   willed   to  create   a   cosmos. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  83 

In  this  way  a  '  non-existent '  God  made  the 
cosmos  out  of  nonentities,  casting  or  depositing 
some  one  seed  that  contained  in  itself  the  entire 
spermatic  energy  of  the  cosmos."  ^  But  with  the 
systems  of  these  men  we  have  nothing  to  do  in 
this  investigation  save  to  note  the  manner  in 
which  they  defended  their  theories,  and  the  rela- 
tion they  bore  to  the  literature  of  the  church  of 
their  day. 

Basilides,  who  was  said  to  be  a  disciple  of 
Glaucius,  an  interpreter  of  Peter,  taught  in  Alex- 
andria during  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  a.  d.  i  17-138. 
The  few  fragments  of  his  writings,  and  those  of 
his  disciples,  which  have  come  down  to  us,  make 
his  dependence  upon  the  philosophy  of  Plato  and 
Zeno  beyond  dispute.  Origen  says  that  he  "  had 
the  effrontery  to  write  a  Gospel,  and  to  give  it 
his  own  name,"  ^  but  the  lack  of  any  other  au- 
thority for  this  statement  makes  it  somewhat  im- 
probable. Eusebius  quotes  from  Agrippa  Castor 
to  the  effect  that  he  "  wrote  twenty-four  books 
on  the  gospel."  ^  Clement  of  Alexandria  quotes 
very  copiously  from  the  twenty-third  of  these 
books,  to  which  he  gives  the  name  "  Exegetics." 


"  4 


*  Hippolytus,  Philosophumena,  VII.,  20.         ^  Horn.,  I.,  in  Lucam. 
8  H.  E.,  IV.,  7,  6.  *  Strom.,  IV.,  12. 


84  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

This  work  of  Basilides  is  very  well  attested,  and 
it  was  beyond  a  doubt  an  effort  to  prove  exegeti- 
cally  that  the  narrative  of  the  gospel  contained 
implicitly  his  system  of  thought.  This  is  the  first 
example  of  which  we  have  any  record  where  the 
written  tradition  of  Christianity  is  brought  for- 
ward to  attest  any  definite  metaphysical  system. 
The  method  employed  by  these  ancient  theolo- 
gians is  a  familiar  one.  For  example,  Basilides 
masses  the  following  proof -texts  to  prove  that  the 
divine  principle  of  light  descended  from  the  Og- 
doad  to  the  Hebdomad,  and  thence  to  Jesus,  the 
son  of  Mary :  ^  "  The  Holy  Spirit  will  come  upon 
thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest  will  over- 
shadow thee  " ;  ^  ''  By  revelation  was  made  known 
unto  me  the  mystery  "  f  and  "  I  have  heard  inex- 
pressible words,  which  it  is  not  possible  for  man 
to  declare."  *  That  the  Archon  was  instructed  by 
Christ  as  to  the  "  non-existent "  One  is  the  mys- 
tery in  the  scripturaLexpression,  "  Not  in  words 
taught  of  human  wisdom,  but  in  those  taught  of 
the  Spirit."  ^  That  Christ  was  mentally  precon- 
ceived at  the  time  of  the  generation  of  the  stars 
is  indicated  by  the  relation  of  the  Magi  to  the  star 

»Philos.,  VII.,  14.         2  Luke  I  :     35.  «  Eph.  3  :  3-5. 

*2  Cor.   12  :  4.  Bphiios.,  VII.,  14. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  85 

of  Bethlehem/  That  more  than  one  Sonship  ex- 
ists in  the  "  non-existent "  One  is  shown  by  the 
words,  "  Waiting  for  the  manifestation  of  the 
sons  of  God."  ^  The  emphasis  here  laid  upon 
single  words,  and  the  mysterious  meanings  dis- 
covered in  seemingly  simple  passages,  all  indicate 
the  new  use  of  the  Christian  documents  which 
was  brought  into  existence  by  cosmological  specu- 
lation. Basilides  exerted  a  great  influence  upon 
the  church  of  his  day,  not  only  because  of  his  pro- 
found learning,  but  also  because  of  the  purity  of 
his  character  and  his  unquestioned  sincerity.  His 
followers  were  numerous,  and  long  after  his  death 
Christian  writers  were  endeavoring  to  answer 
his  doctrines  in  regions  as  far  away  as  the  valley 
of  the  Rhone.  Epiphanius  declares  that  he  taught 
in  all  the  cities  of  Africa.  That  he  adopted  a  po- 
sition that  seemed  almost  impregnable  by  his 
method  of  exegesis,  and  by  his  ingenious  adapta- 
tion of  passages  from  authoritative  Christian  doc- 
uments is  shown  by  the  methods  employed  to 
silence  his  followers. 

Valentinus,  who  was  reported  to  be  a  disciple 
of  Theodas,  a  man  who  was  acquainted  with  the 
Apostle  Paul,  was  one  of  the  most  influential  of 

iPhilos.,  VII.,  IS.  'Philos.,  VII.,  13. 


86  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

all  those  teachers  who  endeavored  to  put  Chris- 
tian doctrine  on  a  philosophical  basis.  He  first 
came  into  prominence  in  Egypt  somewhere  about 
the  year  a.  d.  130,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the 
reign  of  Antoninus  Pius  he  went  to  Rome.  Here 
he  entered  upon  a  career  so  successful  that  at  one 
time  he  was  thought  of  as  bishop  for  this  im- 
portant See.^  The  method  employed  by  him  and 
his  followers  to  establish  their  philosophical  spec- 
ulations has  been  well  described  for  us  by 
Irenaeus.  "  They  endeavor,"  he  says,  "  to  adapt, 
with  an  air  of  probability,  to  their  own  peculiar 
assertions  the  parables  of  the  Lord,  the  sayings 
of  the  prophets,  and  the  words  of  the  apostles, 
in  order  that  their  scheme  may  not  seem  alto- 
gether without  support."  ^  It  is  evident  that  even 
those  who  endeavored  to  answer  the  Valentinians 
regarded  this  as  "  a  plausible  kind  of  expo- 
sition." ^  "  By  transferring  passages,  and  dress- 
ing them  up  anew,  and  making  one  thing  out  of 
another,"  they  "  adapted  the  oracles  of  the  Lord 
to  their  own  opinions."  *  Surely  this  sin  is  so  old 
and  common  that  there  is  scarcely  a  theologian 
in  the  whole  history  of  Christianity  who  has  a 

^  Tertullian,  Adv.  Val.,  4.  ^  Iren.,  I.,  8,   i. 

3  Iren.,  I.,  9,  i.  *  Iren.,  I.,  8,  i. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  8/ 

right  to  "  cast  the  first  stone."  It  almost  seems 
Hke  listening  to  a  discussion  of  yesterday  to  hear 
Irenseus  complaining  that  "  collecting  a  set  of  ex- 
pressions and  names,  scattered  here  and  there, 
they  twist  them  from  a  natural  to  a  non-natural 
sense."  ^  He  complains  that  it  is  just  as  if  an 
image  of  a  king  had  been  constructed  out  of 
precious  gems,  and  then  some  one  were  to  take 
the  jewels  out  of  their  setting  and  rearrange  them 
into  the  form  of  a  dog  or  fox.^  The  very  sur- 
prise of  Irenseus  at  this  perverse  method  of  tear- 
ing proof-texts  from  their  setting  is  extremely 
suggestive.  Such  a  treatment  of  the  books  of 
Christianity  had  never  been  made  before.  Fa- 
miliar as  it  is  in  theological  discussion  even  to 
this  day,  it  was  at  that  time  entirely  unknown 
as  a  use  of  the  documents  which  the  early  church 
had  regarded  merely  as  the  inspired  utterances  of 
her  apostles  and  prophets,  or  the  ethical  and  spirit- 
ual oracles  of  her  Lord.  The  origin  of  this 
method  of  interpretation  is  indicated  by  these 
words  of  Irenseus :  "  In  so  doing  they  act  like 
those  who  bring  forward  any  kind  of  hypothesis 
they  fancy,  and  then  endeavor  to  support  it  out 
of  the  poems  of  Homer,  so  that  the  ignorant 

*  Iren.,  I.,  9,  3.  *  Iren.,  I.,  8,  i. 


88  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

imagine  that  Homer  actually  composed  the  verses 
with  a  view  to  that  hypothesis."  ^  A  concrete 
example  is  then  given  of  this  method,  and  after 
the  proof-texts  have  been  given  Irenseus  adds: 
"  Now  what  simple-minded  man,  I  ask,  would 
not  be  led  by  such  verses  as  these  to  think  that 
Homer  actually  framed  them  so,  with  reference  to 
the  subject  indicated."  This  solicitude  of  Iren- 
aeus,  as  we  shall  see  later,  is  not  always  so  keen 
and  alert  when  he  is  endeavoring  to  establish  his 
own  opinions.  The  great  fact  is  that  an  entirely 
new  use  is  being  made  of  the  written  memorials 
of  Christianity  by  these  theologians,  who  "  with 
great  craftiness  adapt  parts  of  Scripture  to  their 
theories,"  and  "  derive  proofs  for  their  opinions 
from  the  writings  of  the  evangelists  and  the 
apostles."  " 

Let  us  take  a  few  examples  of  their  method. 
That  Christ  is  derived  from  all  the  3eons,  and  is 
himself  the  pleroma,  they  prove  from  such  pas- 
sages as  these  from  Paul :  ^  "In  whom  dwelleth 
the  pleroma  of  the  Godhead  " ;  *  "  Of  him,  and 
through  him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things,  to  whom 
be  glory  unto  the  aeons  " ;  ^  "  Christ  is  all,  and  in 

»  Iren.,  I.,  9,  3-  "  Iren.,  I.,  3,  6,  «  Iren.,  I.,  3,  4. 

*  Col.  2:9.  ^  Rom.  1 1  :  36. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  89 

all  " ;  ^  "  All  things  are  summed  up  by  God  in 
Christ."  ^  The  parable  of  the  Laborers  Sent  into 
the  Vineyard  is  found  to  be  an  allegory  of  the 
thirty  aeons,  because  some  were  sent  out  the  first 
hour,  some  the  third,  some  the  sixth,  some  the 
ninth,  and  some  the  eleventh,  while  the  sum  total 
of  one,  three,  six,  nine,  and  eleven  is  just  thirty.^ 
One  might  easily  join  in  the  indignation  of  Iren- 
aeus  that  they  thus  find  their  doctrines  ''  in  the 
multitude  of  things  contained  in  the  Scripture, 
which  they  adapt  and  accommodate  to  their  base- 
less speculations,"  *  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
this  is  just  the  method  which  Irenaeus  himself  em- 
ploys to  prove  that  the  Gospels  cannot  be  more  in 
number  than  four.^  The  Valentinians  made  much 
of  such  phrases  as  "  Now  are  things  hidden  from 
thee,"  ^  "  I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  hid  these 
things,"  ^  to  establish  their  claim  to  an  esoteric 
doctrine,  and  to  show  that  Christ  did  not  ex- 
plicitly state  his  system.  They  claim  that  Paul 
frequently  mentions  the  aeons,  and  even  asserts 
their  rank  in  the  words,  "  To  all  the  generations 
of  the  aeons  of  the  JEon.''  ^  The  rank  of  twelve 
aeons,  called  the  Duodecad,  is  established  by  the 

*  Col.    3  :   II.  2  Eph.    I  :   10.  '  Iren.,   I.,    i,    3. 

*  Iren.,  I.,  i,  3.  ^  Iren.,  III.,  11,  8.  «  Iren.,  I.,  20,  2. 
'  Iren.,  I.,  20,  3.             *  Iren.,  I.,  3,  i;  Eph.  3  :  21. 


90  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

fact  that  Christ  was  twelve  years  old  when  he  dis- 
puted in  the  temple,  and  made  the  number  of  his 
disciples  just  twelve/  This  same  thing  is  also  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  the  woman  who  touched 
the  hem  of  his  garment  had  been  afflicted  just 
twelve  years. ^  In  this  latter  incident  the  Valen- 
tinians  find  a  great  cosmic  mystery.  The  lost 
drachma  in  the  parable  is  a  symbol  of  the  lost 
power  in  the  Duodecad.^  The  story  of  Geth- 
semane  and  Calvary  is  filled  with  indications  and 
revelations  of  the  struggle  of  cosmic  forces.*  The 
three  measures  of  meal,  in  the  parable  of  the 
Leaven,  is  made  to  symbolize  the  later  Platonic 
psychology.^  Simeon  in  the  temple,  ready  to  de- 
part in  peace,  is  a  type  of  the  Demiurge,  who 
takes  his  place  in  the  scale  of  being  upon  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Logos.®  The  parables  of  the  Lost 
Sheep  and  the  Lost  Piece  of  Money  are  made  to 
teach  the  dualistic  doctrine  of  a  wandering  power, 
outside  the  pleroma,  who  in  a  state  of  passion 
created  matter.'' 

So  did  these  ancient  theologians  find  all  their 
doctrines  foreshadowed  in  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures.    It  was  all  in  vain  that  Irenaeus  declared 

^  Iren.,  I.,  3,  2.  -  Iren.,  I.,  3,  3.  ^  Iren.,  I.,   16,   i. 

*  Iren.,  I.,  8,  2.  ^  Iren.,   I.,  8,  3.  «  Iren,,  I.,  8,  4. 

'  Iren.,  I.,  8,  4. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  9 1 

that  it  was  not  "  John's  intention  "  to  set  forth 
an  Ogdoad  and  a  Tetrad/  The  fascination  for 
speculation  had  seized  the  church.  The  teachings 
of  Christianity  must  now  have  a  metaphysical 
background.  However  foreign  a  theory  might 
be  to  the  mind  of  Christ  and  his  followers,  it  must 
justify  itself  by  reference  to  their  words.  It  may 
not  have  been  John's  "  intention  "  to  set  forth 
an  explicit  system  of  theology ;  but  one  was  in  his 
mind,  and  he  who  understands  the  depths  of 
Scripture  will  be  able  to  find  it.  That  this  po- 
sition, first  adopted  by  the  Gnostics,  was  not 
abandoned  by  the  orthodox  teachers  who  an- 
swered them  can  be  seen  on  almost  every  page  of 
their  writings. 

The  assumption  that  the  final  system  of  truth 
was  in  the  background  of  the  thought  of  the 
writers  of  Scripture  is  one  that  has  not  died  out 
to  this  day.  To  be  sure  the  speculations  of  the 
Gnostics  now  sound  strange  and  remote,  but 
in  their  day  the  language  was  familiar  to  all 
cultured  people,  and  the  proof  that  their  philos- 
ophy was  hinted  at,  and  often  plainly  declared,  in 
the  sacred  books  of  the  church,  must  have  swept 
with  tremendous  force  through  the  various  centers 

*Iren.,  I.,  9,   i. 


92  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

of  Christian  thought.  The  widespread  influ- 
ence of  the  teaching  of  Valentinus  is  a  testimony 
to  this  fact.  His  followers  were  found  in  Egypt, 
in  Syria,  in  Mesopotamia,  in  Cyprus,  in  Gaul,  and 
in  Rome.  Indeed,  so  many  and  so  various  were 
the  schools  of  his  disciples  and  the  phases  of  their 
thought  that  the  early  Fathers  who  endeavored  to 
answer  them  have  left  us  an  almost  hopeless 
tangle.  Irenaeus  compares  the  school  of  Valen- 
tinus to  that  many-headed  beast,  the  Lernaean 
Hydra. ^  Epiphanius  tells  us  that  even  in  the 
fourth  century  his  followers  were  found  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  Egypt.^  Of  Secundus,  one  of  his  first 
disciples,  very  little  is  known.^  Ptolemaeus,  anoth- 
er disciple,  was  head  of  the  Italic  school  in  the 
time  of  Irenaeus,  about  a.  d.  i8o,  and  no  doubt 
many  of  the  doctrines  attributed  to  Valentinus 
were  taken  from  him  or  his  followers.  We  have 
a  fragment  of  the  teaching  of  this  disciple  in  the 
"  Epistle  of  Ptolemaeus  to  Flora,"  which  is  an 
effort  to  answer  the  question  of  a  female  follower 
as  to  the  relation  of  the  Mosaic  law  to  Christian- 
ity. Although  it  belongs  to  the  "  exoteric  "  teach- 
ing of  the  Gnostic  leader,  and  has  little  to  do  with 

1  Iren.,  I.,  30,   15.  '^Hxr.,  31,  17. 

'Tert,  Adv.  Val.,  4;  Iren.,  I.,  11,  2;  Philast.  Hsr.,  40. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  93 

his  theological  system,  still  the  use  made  of  the 
Christian  documents  is  entirely  in  keeping  with 
what  we  have  seen  of  his  master  Valentinus. 
Marcus,  another  disciple,  who  taught  in  Asia,  ex- 
ercised so  great  an  influence  that  Irenaeus  said  he 
was  leading  away  Christians  "  even  in  our  own 
district  of  the  Rhone."  ^  Of  Axionicos,  who 
taught  in  Antioch  in  the  early  part  of  the  third 
century,  Tertullian  says  that  he  alone  "  vindicated 
the  memory  of  Valentinus  by  complete  keeping  of 
his  rules. "^  Of  Theotimus,  Alexander,  Carpoc- 
rates,  Isidorus,  and  many  others  whose  names 
are  mentioned  by  the  early  Fathers  as  disciples 
of  Valentinus,  we  know  next  to  nothing. 

By  all  means  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  fol- 
lowers of  Valentinus  for  our  investigation  is  He- 
racleon,  who  was  declared  by  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria to  be  the  most  influential  of  his  disciples.^ 
He  probably  taught  in  some  city  in  southern  Italy 
or  Sicily,  but  just  where  we  do  not  know.  The 
interest  attaching  to  his  name  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  he  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  Gospel  of 
John,  which  is  referred  to  over  sixty  times  in  the 
small  fragment  which  we  have  of  Origen's  com- 
mentary on  the  same  Gospel.    In  these  discussions 

*  Iren.,  I.,  15,  6.  ^  Ad^.  Val.,  4.  'Strom.,  4,  9. 


94  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

of  Heracleon  we  have  the  clearest  and  most  un- 
answerable evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  Gnostics 
were  the  first  Christians  to  use  the  documents  of 
Christianity  in  the  same  manner  as  that  in  which 
theologians  had  long  been  accustomed  to  use  the 
Old  Testament.  Clement  discusses  at  some  length 
a  distinction  which  Heracleon  made  between  the 
use  of  the  dative  and  accusative  case  in  a  certain 
saying  of  Christ/  It  is  probable  that  Heracleon 
wrote  other  commentaries  besides  the  one  on 
John ;  but  it  is  enough  for  our  purpose  to  note  his 
method  of  interpretation  as  revealed  in  the  frag- 
ments discussed  by  Origen.  In  the  expression, 
*'  All  things  were  made  by  him,"  the  preposition  is 
found  to  be  very  significant,  and  a  great  Platonic 
mystery  is  found  to  be  hidden  in  that  little  word 
"  by."  ^  Just  so  salvation  is  "  of  "  the  Jews,  but 
not  "  in  "  them.  The  minuteness  and  accuracy 
of  this  examination  of  words  is  the  beginning  of 
the  belief  in  verbal  inspiration.  The  words  "  in 
him  was  life  "  denote  the  existence  of  all  ''  pneu- 
matic "  men  in  the  Logos.^  In  the  number  of  the 
husbands  of  the  woman  of  Samaria,  in  the  two 
days  spent  by  Christ  in  the  city  of  Sychar,  in  the 
seventh  hour  in  which  the  nobleman's  son  was 

*  Strom.,  4,  9.         =*  Com.  in  Joan.,  I.,  8.         »  Com.  in  Joan,,  I.,  13. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  95 

healed,  and  in  other  numbers  of  the  text,  Herac- 
leon  finds  many  significant  and  mysterious  les- 
sons. The  nobleman  is  a  type  of  the  Demiurge; 
the  servants  are  the  angels ;  the  son  is  the  material 
world  created  by  the  Demiurge/  The  woman 
of  Samaria  represents  the  "  pneumatic  "  man,  in- 
structed by  the  Logos;  the  water  of  the  well, 
which  she  rejected,  is  Judaism;  the  husband  she 
is  to  call  is  her  spiritual  bridegroom  from  the 
pleroma;  the  watering-pot  is  the  soul,  open  to 
receive  instruction  from  the  Saviour,^  and  so  on. 
That  Origen  regards  this  as  perfectly  legitimate 
interpretation  is  evident.  Indeed,  he  expressly 
says  so.  What  he  objects  to  is  not  the  method 
of  interpretation,  but  the  theology  it  is  made  to 
foster.  Again  and  again  he  agrees  with  the  opin- 
ions of  Heracleon,  and  sometimes  as  one  reads  on 
it  is  difficult  to  tell  just  where  the  opinions  of  the 
one  leave  ofT  and  those  of  the  other  begin.  Origen 
himself  finds  great  and  wonderful  mysteries  in  the 
colt  of  the  ass  on  which  Christ  rode  into  Jerusa- 
lem, in  the  branches  cut  from  the  trees  on  that 
occasion,  in  the  accompanying  crowds,  and  in 
other  things  without  end.  Indeed,  we  frequently 
find  the  interpretation  of  Heracleon  far  more  sane 

»XIII.,   s8.  -XIII.,   II. 


g6  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

than  that  of  Origen.  The  latter  complains  that 
the  words  "  whose  shoe-latchet  I  am  not  worthy 
to  unloose,"  receive  "  much  too  simple  an  inter- 
pretation "  by  Heracleon/  To  be  sure  the  Gnos- 
tic commentator  shows  some  "  largeness  of 
mind  "  when  he  understands  the  shoe  to  signify 
the  cosmos,  but  he  spoils  all  this  by  making  the 
whole  thing  to  mean  an  admission  by  the  Demi- 
urge that  he  is  not  equal  to  the  Logos. 

We  might  multiply  examples  of  the  method  of 
interpretation  employed  by  Heracleon,  but  a  few 
more  must  suffice.  In  the  words  "  he  went  down 
to  Capernaum,"  the  word  Capernaum  signifies 
those  far-away  regions  of  matter  into  which  the 
creative  power  descended,  and  the  phrase  "  went 
down  "  contains  a  creative  mystery.^  The  as- 
cent of  Christ  to  Jerusalem  typifies  the  going  up 
of  the  Saviour  from  the  sinful  material  realm  to 
the  region  of  pure  spirit.^  The  scourge  of  small 
cords  is  an  image  of  the  power  and  energy  of  the 
Holy  Spirit;  the  wooden  handle  to  which  the 
cords  are  tied  is  a  symbol  of  the  cross;  the  mer- 
chants driven  out  of  the  temple  are  a  symbol  of 
the  powers  cast  out  and  destroyed  by  Christ.  The 
word  *'  lamb  " ;  *  the  phrase  "  in  three  days  "  ;  ° 

»VI.,  23.  2x.,  9.  8X.,  19.  *XI.,  38.  *X.,  21. 


THF    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  97 

the  expression  "  ye  worship  what  ye  know  not  "  ^ 
— these,  and  many  other  things,  are  freighted 
with  immense  significance. 

Nowhere  do  we  have  better  opportunity  to 
test  the  strength  of  the  Gnostic  position  than  in 
this  commentary  of  Origen  on  John.  The  method 
employed  by  both  writers  is  exactly  the  same,  but 
the  Gnostic  has  the  advantage  of  priority.  He 
found  his  doctrines  taught  in  Scripture  in  exactly 
the  same  manner  as  that  employed  by  his  oppo- 
nent to  answer  him.  Such  an  advantage  in  time 
accounts  for  the  tremendous  power  and  influence 
of  the  Gnostic  schools.  *'  So  firm  is  the  ground 
upon  which  these  Gospels  rests,"  says  Irenseus, 
"  that  the  very  heretics  themselves  bear  witness  to 
them,  and  starting  from  them  each  one  of  them 
endeavors  to  establish  his  own  peculiar  doctrine."^ 
Between  these  lines  one  can  read,  "  So  firm  is  the 
ground  upon  which  these  scientific  theologians 
stand,  who  read  in  the  Gospels  their  strange  mix- 
ture of  Platonism  and  Orientalism,  that  the 
church  must  take  the  books  out  of  their  hands, 
close  up  the  canon,  and  then  read  into  it  her  own 
system  of  doctrine  by  adopting  their  method  of 
interpretation."    This  is  what  actually  happened. 

»XIII.,   19.  *HL,   II,  7. 

G 


98  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

The  Gnostics  were  the  bridge  by  which  the 
church  passed  over  from  the  period  of  expansion 
into  the  period  of  reflection.  Their  effort  to  give 
Christianity  a  definite  and  fixed  body  of  doctrine 
was  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  creed  forma- 
tion. We  soon  find  a  subtle  transformation  tak- 
ing place,  by  which  the  emphasis  is  shifted  from  a 
moral  and  spiritual  to  an  intellectual  condition 
of  church-membership,  and  the  incipient  stages 
in  the  development  of  the  so-called  "  Apostle's 
Creed  "  can  be  traced  in  the  writings  of  those  who 
answered  the  Gnostics.  The  emphasis  upon 
"  gnosis  "  bore  its  fruit,  even  though  the  men  who 
first  advocated  it  were  driven  from  the  church. 
Just  so  did  the  principle  of  an  esoteric  and  an  ex- 
oteric truth  become  established  in  Christianity, 
though  the  right  to  the  former  was  confined  to  the 
recognized  and  ordained  officials  of  the  church, 
and  every  man  who  had  a  philosophical  system 
was  not  at  liberty  to  promulgate  it,  as  formerly. 
We  thus  find  three  forces  working  side  by  side  in 
the  church — the  tendency  to  appeal  to  an  apostolic 
and  literary  norm  of  authority,  to  make  "  faith  " 
consist  in  "  gnosis,"  and  to  confine  the  teaching 
function  to  regularly  constituted  authorities. 
These   three    forces    resulted    in    the    formation 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  99 

of  a  canon,  of  a  creed,  and  of  the  monarchical 
episcopate. 

Though  our  investigation  has  to  do  solely  with 
the  first  of  these  forces,  we  cannot  utterly  ignore 
the  other  two.  The  assumption  of  the  Gnostics 
that  knowledge  of  the  character  and  purposes  of 
God  constitutes  the  essence  of  salvation,  and  their 
appeal  to  recognized  written  traditions  to  justify 
their  systems,  bore  fruit  in  more  ways  than  one. 
To  be  sure,  the  church  at  first  had  no  sympathy 
with  their  efforts  to  form  a  spiritual  aristocracy 
of  the  "  knowing  ones,"  because  such  an  act  of 
necessity  cast  more  or  less  contempt  on  the  ig- 
norant and  simple  folk  who  had  been  the  main 
support  of  Christianity  in  the  days  of  its  unpopu- 
larity. But  in  later  years,  by  the  very  adoption 
of  the  creeds,  and  the  development  of  the  specu- 
lative theology  of  the  great  doctors,  she  did  the 
same  thing  herself,  and  to  this  day  the  inner  mys- 
teries of  the  gospel  are  withheld  from  the  rabble 
in  the  church  then  formed.  That  this  tendency 
was  resisted  at  first,  even  in  the  form  that  eventu- 
ally triumphed,  is  shown  plainly  by  the  saying  of 
Tertullian  that  "  the  simpler  minded,  not  to  say 
the  ignorant  and  unlearned  men,  who  always  form 
the  majority  of  believers,  are  frightened  by  the 


lOO  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Economy  "  ^ — a  name  by  which  this  writer  desig- 
nated the  philosophical  explanation  of  the  Trin- 
ity. *'  I  am  not  unaware,"  says  Clement,  "  of 
what  is  babbled  by  some,  who  in  their  ignorance 
are  frightened  by  every  noise,  and  tell  us  that  we 
ought  to  occupy  ourselves  with  what  is  most  nec- 
essary, and  what  contains  faith;  and  that  we 
should  pass  over  the  superfluous  things  that  lie 
beyond,  which  wear  us  out  and  detain  us  to  no 
purpose  over  matters  which  contribute  nothing  to 
the  great  end."  ^ 

Here  we  have  the  issue  squarely  joined  between 
the  speculative  and  the  moral  conception  of 
"  faith  " ;  between  the  redemption  of  culture  and 
the  redemption  of  discipline.  To  the  stern  moral 
earnestness  of  the  early  Christians  the  speculative 
tendency  was  going  "  beyond  "  things  necessary, 
and  was  exhausting  the  energy  of  the  church  in  a 
vain  effort  to  settle  things  which  contribute  noth- 
ing to  salvation.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
great  multitudes  did  not  understand  the  underly- 
ing assumption  of  Gnosticism  that  there  is  an  in- 
tellectual "  redemption,"  and  that  the  highest  sal- 
vation is  only  obtained  by  knowledge  of  the  great 
mysteries  of  the  cosmos.     The  Platonic  doctrine 

*  Adv.  Praxeas,  3.  ^  Strom,,  I.,   i. 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  lOI 

that  vice  is  ignorance,  and  that  virtue  consists  in 
the  holding  of  right  opinions,  which  is  behind 
every  process  of  creed  formation,  was  triumphant 
in  the  second  century.  Aristotle,  with  a  more 
modern  psychology,  had  advanced  the  theory  in 
the  Nicomachean  Ethics  that  vice  is  a  wrong  state 
of  the  will,  and  virtue  consists  in  setting  the  will 
right;  but  the  teachings  of  this  philosopher  ex- 
erted but  little  influence  on  the  church  leaders  of 
the  second  century.  Beyond  a  faint  trace  of  his 
teachings  in  the  fragments  left  us  of  the  theories 
of  Paul  of  Samosata,  and  others  of  the  "  Adop- 
tionists,"  we  can  scarcely  find  a  reference  to  this 
philosopher  in  the  writers  of  this  period. 

It  was  thus  a  speculative  interest  that  started 
the  movement  of  sifting  the  literature  of  the 
church,  and  forming  a  fixed  and  closed  canon 
of  revelation.  The  only  authority  recognized  in 
the  church  before  the  year  a,  d.  125  was  the  pos- 
session of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  he  was  supposed 
to  speak  to  Christians  of  the  day  in  precisely  the 
same  manner  as  he  had  spoken  to  the  apostles.  No 
line  was  drawn  between  the  two  revelations,  mak- 
ing the  one  superior  to  the  other.  From  the  very 
beginning  followers  of  Christ  had  believed  them- 
selves to  be  in  immediate  contact  with  the  Spirit, 


102  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

and  had  looked  to  him  to  reveal  to  them  such 
truth  as  was  needed  for  the  guidance  of  their 
lives.  The  first  Christians  to  resign  this  high 
privilege  were  the  Gnostics.  When  Heracleon, 
by  his  commentary  on  John,  undertook  to  find  a 
system  of  philosophy  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus, 
and  sought  to  justify  his  beliefs  by  reading  them 
back  into  the  apostolic  age  by  the  allegorical 
method  of  interpretation,  he  began  a  movement 
that  was  far-reaching  in  its  consequences.  Hence- 
forth the  apostles  were  to  be  regarded  as  the  sole 
recipients  of  Christian  communications  from  God, 
and  their  teachings  were  to  become  the  only 
source  and  standard  of  truth  for  the  church. 

As  the  century  passed  on  the  movement  grew, 
and  other  teachers  of  influence  and  learning  began 
to  carry  the  germs  of  Platonic  mysticism  and  the 
elements  of  various  Oriental  cults  over  into  the 
teachings  of  the  apostles,  by  the  method  employed 
by  Heracleon.  It  soon  became  necessary  for  the 
church  to  settle  the  question  whether  these  specu- 
lations were  really  taught  by  the  apostles  or  not, 
and  thus  the  question  of  a  canon  was  raised.  What 
books  were  of  apostolic  origin  ?  What  system  of 
philosophy  did  they  teach?  The  Gnostics  forced 
the  church  to  answer  these  questions.    Of  course 


THE   FIRST   THEOLOGIANS  IO3 

the  exact  limits  of  the  canon  could  not  be  found 
at  once.  There  were  doubts  and  discussions  over 
certain  books  for  generations.  But  this  very  fact 
shows  how  general  was  the  conception  of  revela- 
tion in  the  early  days.  To  form  an  authoritative 
and  exclusive  collection  from  the  great  mass  of 
sacred  writings  was  no  easy  task.  To  be  sure,  a 
simple  norm  was  furnished  in  the  thought  that 
the  canon  must  be  "  apostolic  " ;  but  two  of  the 
Gospels  in  general  circulation  could  not  claim 
apostles  for  authors.  The  final  decision  had  to  be 
more  or  less  arbitrary.  When  the  third  council 
of  Carthage,  in  the  year  397,  included  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  among  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  it 
was  simply  carrying  out  the  principle  that  was 
laid  down  for  the  formation  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament in  the  second  century. 

Of  course  the  consequences  of  this  step  were 
momentous.  The  baneful  and  pernicious  notion 
that  every  doctrine  and  every  practice  of  the 
church  must  somehow  find  apostolic  authority, 
even  if  it  must  twist  passages  out  of  their  context 
in  order  to  do  it,  and  find  marvelous  absurdities  in 
numbers  and  trivial  objects,  like  shoe-laces  and 
whip-cords,  utterly  destroyed  the  sense  of  per- 
spective in  the  Gospels,  and  led  the  church  away 


I04  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

from  the  great  spiritual  and  ethical  message  of  its 
Master.  So  far  did  it  wander  that  it  has  not  yet 
returned.  The  idea  is  still  widely  current  that 
the  church  must  carry  back  all  its  customs,  beliefs, 
and  institutions  to  the  apostolic  age.  The  method 
is  still  widely  current  of  treating  the  apostles  as 
a  single  and  composite  body,  whose  individuality 
overshadows  that  of  the  separate  members  and 
hides  their  humanity  under  a  mechanical  concep- 
tion of  revelation.  We  still  feel  the  incubus  of  the 
thought  that  in  our  day  there  is  "  no  open  vision," 
and  unless  we  can  find  confirmation  of  our  plans 
and  discoveries  in  the  canon  we  must  abandon 
them.  Above  all,  we  are  still  far  from  exalting 
to  the  place  of  supreme  authority  among  us 
Christ's  conception  of  his  kingdom,  because  of  the 
minor  matters  of  the  New  Testament  that  ab- 
sorb all  our  attention.  If  ever  we  return  to  that 
desire  of  our  heart,  "  a  New  Testament  church," 
it  must  be  by  realizing  that  such  a  church  has  no 
idea  of  a  New  Testament.  A  church  with  a  New 
Testament  is  a  "  Gnostic  church." 

With  the  conception  of  a  closed  epoch  of  revela- 
tion we  find  an  entirely  new  interest  centering  in 
the  inspired  books.  From  this  time  on  they  are 
supposed  to  contain  not  only  utterances  for  the 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  IO5 

edification  and  guidance  of  men  in  the  religious 
life,  but  symbols  and  analogies  that  are  freighted 
with  deep  theological  mysteries,  and  implicit  dog- 
mas that  explain  the  origin  of  the  universe  and 
the  true  significance  of  being.  It  is  one  thing  to 
believe  that  a  book  reveals  to  us  instruction  nec- 
essary to  the  realization  of  a  divine  life,  and  it  is 
quite  another  to  appeal  to  that  same  book  for 
proof-texts  to  establish  a  Pythagorean  or  Platonic 
ontology.  It  was  just  this  difference  which  grad- 
ually took  place  in  the  second  century  in  the  use 
made  of  the  Christian  documents,  and  it  was  this 
shift  of  emphasis  that  led  to  the  formation  of  a 
closed  New  Testament.  Just  as  Maximus  of 
Tyre  endeavored  to  purify  and  unify  the  pagan 
religion  by  applying  the  allegorical  method  of  in- 
terpretation to  the  fables  of  Homer,  so  now  an 
effort  was  made  to  reduce  the  Christian  religion 
to  a  speculative  unit  by  reading  the  scientific  con- 
ceptions of  the  age  into  the  writings  of  the 
apostles. 

The  reader  need  not  be  told  how  easy  it  is, 
by  the  skilful  manipulation  of  quotations  and  the 
fanciful  interpretation  of  figures,  to  make  the 
Scriptures  teach  the  cosmology  of  any  school,  or 
any  age.     One  who  is  familiar  with  the  efforts 


I06  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

of  certain  modern  interpreters  to  make  the  Bible 
a  text-book  of  geology  and  astronomy,  a  sponsor 
for  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  a  revelation  of  mys- 
teries about  the  Paleozoic  age,  a  storehouse  of 
strange  and  weird  anticipations  of  every  scientific 
discovery,  will  at  least  understand  the  efforts  of 
the  Gnostics  to  find  in  it  some  indication  of  a  be- 
lief in  the  aeons  Aletheia  and  Zoe.  Their  science 
may  sound  grotesque  to  our  ears,  their  conclu- 
sions may  appear  wild  and  incoherent,  their  whole 
thought  may  seem  ridiculous  and  antiquated,  but 
their  major  premise  of  a  Bible  that  contains  the 
thought  germs  of  every  age  is  one  that  the  church 
inherited  from  them,  and  still  clings  to  fondly. 
It  is  easy  to  ridicule  them  for  their  strange  con- 
ceptions of  Buthos,  and  Nous,  and  Sophia,  but 
these  terms  were  merely  the  scientific  vernacular 
of  the  day,  and  nothing  is  more  cheap  than  the 
contempt  heaped  by  one  age  upon  another  for  its 
scientific  mistakes. 

How  thoroughly  modern  the  whole  contest  was 
can  be  seen  by  taking  some  such  statement  as  the 
following,  which  might  have  been  made  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  or  the  latter  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century :  "  When  all  this  seething 
speculation  shall  come  to  an  end,  and  we  shall 


THE    FIRST    THEOLOGIANS  I07 

reach  a  true  and  final  conclusion  as  to  just  how 
God  created  and  fashioned  this  universe,  that 
conclusion  will  in  no  wise  contradict  the  reve- 
lation of  himself  which  he  has  made  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  but  will  be  found  to  have  been  mar- 
velously  anticipated  and  foretold  in  the  infal- 
lible visions  of  the  divine  Book."  Whether  these 
words  were  uttered  by  a  preacher  in  the  age  of 
Valentinus  to  quiet  some  of  his  hearers  who  had 
been  disturbed  by  the  speculations  of  Gnosticism, 
or  whether  they  were  uttered  from  a  London  pul- 
pit in  the  age  of  Herbert  Spencer  to  allay  the 
doubts  raised  by  the  theory  of  evolution,  let  the 
reader  who  is  familiar  with  both  periods  answer. 


THE  RESENTMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH 


V 

WE  are  compelled  to  resort  almost  entirely 
to  conjecture  in  our  effort  to  picture  to 
ourselves  the  feeling  of  the  church  at  large  at  this 
new  use  of  the  documents.  The  common  Chris- 
tian had  no  spokesman.  He  was  at  the  mercy  of 
his  ecclesiastical  superiors.  He  belonged  to  the 
"  exoteric  "  multitude,  and  was  not  considered  fit 
to  settle  the  great  crucial  problems  that  had  arisen. 
Formerly  he  had  been  the  strength  afid  pride  of 
the  church.  Justin  had  boasted  that  in  the  Chris- 
tian communities  of  his  day  there  were  some  who 
did  not  even  know  their  letters,  who  had  attained 
the  highest  heights  of  inspired  wisdom.  Paul 
had  stopped  in  the  midst  of  his  stormy  career  to 
cry  out,  "Where  are  the  wise?"  The  founder 
of  Christianity  himself  had  thanked  his  Father 
that  its  deepest  truths  were  hidden  from  the  "  wise 
and  prudent,"  and  revealed  unto  "  babes."  But 
now  the  "  wise  and  prudent "  were  assuming  the 
leadership  of  the  church.  There  is  a  feeling  of 
contempt  in  the  reference  of  Tertullian  to  those 

"  simple-minded,   not   to   say   ignorant   and   un- 

III 


112  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

learned  men,  who  always  constitute  the  majority 
of  believers,"  and  who  are  frightened  at  the  specu- 
lative tendencies  of  the  day.  Clement  treats  with 
a  haughty  air  those  "  babblers  who  in  their  igno- 
rance are  terrified  by  every  noise,"  and  who  insist 
that  the  church  cling  to  essentials  and  let 
cosmological  dreams  alone. 

Every  indication  points  to  the  fact  that  the 
common  Christian  was  utterly  shocked  at  the  turn 
affairs  had  taken.  He  was  dazed  by  Ogdoads  and 
Tetrads,  by  Pleromas  and  Kenomas,  by  the  Ave- 
lion  and  the  Demiurge.  The  transformation  of 
Christianity,  by  which  it  was  ceasing  to  be  a  moral 
conflict  in  the  midst  of  temptations  to  treachery 
and  apostasy  and  licentiousness,  and  was  becom- 
ing a  struggle  of  aeons,  was  utterly  unreal  and  re- 
pulsive to  him.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  mind 
of  Christ  had  been  occupied  with  any  such  specu- 
lative foolishness.  And  yet  the  philosophers 
claimed  to  find  it  all  in  the  Gospels,  and  the  best 
informed  leaders  of  the  church  scarcely  dared  con- 
tradict them.  He  was  told  that  his  inability  to 
see  was  due  to  his  spiritual  blindness.  He  was 
told  that  only  the  initiated,  whose  understandings 
were  trained  to  apprehend  the  deep  things  of  God, 
could  see  how  the  scriptural  writers,  when  they 


THE   RESENTMENT    OF   THE    CHURCH        II3 

Spake  of  how  Christ  went  down  to  Capernaum, 
meant  the  descent  of  the  world-forming  aeon  into 
the  far  distant  realms  of  sinful  matter. 

It  is  very  unfortunate  that  the  student  has  al- 
most no  material  from  which  to  glean  the  senti- 
ment of  the  church  at  large  in  this  important 
transition.  The  suppression  of  every  document 
that  in  any  way  militated  against  the  conception 
of  an  apostolic  church  leaves  us  almost  helpless. 
And  yet  we  find  an  occasional  suggestive  fact  or 
reference  that  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  feeling 
of  the  "  simple  minded  "  at  this  change  from  a 
basis  of  redemption  by  morals  to  a  basis  of  re- 
demption by  theology.  One  such  fact  is  found  in 
the  party  of  the  "  Alogi."  It  is  hardly  fair,  how- 
ever, to  call  them  a  party.  Epiphanius,  two  cen- 
turies later,  in  his  work  against  all  heresies,  gave 
them  this  name.  He  said  he  called  them  "  Alogi  " 
because  of  their  opposition  to  the  Logos  specula- 
tion. No  better  testimony  could  be  borne  to  the 
fact  that  the  movement  was  not  regarded  in  its 
day  as  a  heresy.  The  first  step  in  the  condemna- 
tion of  a  sect  is  to  give  it  a  name.  As  long  as  men 
can  keep  tags  off  themselves  they  can  remain  in 
the  church  undisturbed.  They  are  just  ''  Chris- 
tians "  then.     Now  whatever  these  Alogi  were, 

H 


114  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

they  were  never  driven  from  the  church,  but 
maintained  their  position  among  the  body  of  be- 
Hevers/  Yet  Epiphanius  says  of  their  attitude 
toward  the  Johannine  writings,  ''  They  say  they 
were  not  written  by  John,  but  by  Cerinthus,  and 
are  not  worthy  to  be  kept  in  the  church."  "  Now 
Cerinthus  was  a  Gnostic  Jew,  and  since  the  Alogi 
were  the  bitter  enemies  of  all  Gnostic  speculation 
over  the  Logos,  they  must  have  believed  that  the 
Johannine  writings  were  a  product  of  this  tend- 
ency. This  was  not  strange.  Serapion  believed 
that  the  Gospel  of  Peter  had  been  written  in  the 
interest  of  Docetism.  Tertullian  supposed  the 
Shepherd  of  Hermas  to  be  a  product  of  Adop- 
tionism.  The  Egyptian  Gospel  was  doubtless 
written  in  the  interest  of  asceticism.  It  was  a 
very  common  thing  for  a  book  to  be  composed  to 
bolster  up  some  tendency  in  the  church. 

The  Alogi  observed  that  the  favorite  book 
among  the  Gnostics  was  the  Gospel  of  John. 
Heracleon  wrote  a  commentary  upon  it.  Perhaps 
a  Gnostic  wrote  the  book  itself.  The  Alogi  were 
merely  certain  Christians  who  put  their  empha- 
sis upon  practical  matters,  and  who  resisted  in 

1  Epiphanius,   Haer.,    51.      Herzog,    Real-Encyc,   X.,    S.    183.      See 
Harnack,  "  Zeitschrift  f.  d.  Hist.  Theol.,"  1874,  S.   166. 
'^  Epiphanius,  Haer.,  51,  3. 


THE   RESENTMENT   OF   THE    CHURCH       II5 

every  way  the  philosophical  and  speculative  tend- 
encies of  the  day.  The  cosmological  speculations, 
bound  up  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos,  seemed  to 
them  a  turning  aside  from  the  great  prime  pur- 
pose of  saving  men.  They  were  not  very  well 
informed  in  matters  of  criticism,  as  their  funda- 
mental hypothesis  testifies.  It  is  inconceivable, 
however,  that  a  party  could  have  arisen  in  Asia 
Minor  and  have  spread  even  to  Rome,  and  that 
made  enough  impression  upon  the  religious 
thought  of  its  day  to  be  deemed  worthy  of  notice 
two  hundred  years  later,  that  attributed  the  en- 
tire Johannine  writings  to  the  arch-heretic  Cerin- 
thus,  and  that  advocated  banishing  them  from  the 
churches  if  there  had  been  in  existence  at  that 
time  a  closed  New  Testament  canon.  Such  an  act 
would  have  shattered  into  fragments  the  very 
foundation  of  church  unity.  But  the  fact  is  the 
church  had  no  unity,  and  endless  schools  of  philos- 
ophy were  springing  up  within  her  borders.  Dis- 
cussions of  points  in  metaphysics  were  taking 
the  place  of  the  old  redemptive  interest,  and  it 
seemed  to  the  Alogi  that  Christianity  was  selling 
her  birthright  for  a  mess  of  Greek  pottage.  They 
wanted  to  banish  the  whole  thing,  and  it  seemed 
to  them  that  the  quickest  way  to  do  it  was  to  burn 


Il6  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Up  the  books  that  were  causing  all  the  trouble. 
They  did  not  appreciate  the  significance  or  the 
depth  of  the  movement. 

What  sources  Epiphanius  drew  upon  for  the 
doctrines  of  these  people,  and  just  how  strong  the 
movement  was  we  do  not  know.  Undoubtedly 
the  reason  it  was  not  given  a  name  was  because 
the  Alogi  were  not  clearly  differentiated  from 
many  other  Christians,  who  proposed  all  sorts  of 
remedies  for  the  speculative  evil,  and  who  repre- 
sented various  tendencies  of  feeling  and  of  pur- 
pose. Not  all  Christians  who  objected  to  the  ten- 
dency of  the  church  to  draw  off  her  energies  into 
metaphysics  could  have  found  a  solution  in  the 
rejection  of  the  writings  of  John.  It  may  have 
been  that  only  a  small  fragment  of  the  objectors 
favored  this  remedy.  But  at  any  rate  the  Alogi 
enable  us  to  see  how  the  common  Christian  was 
impressed  by  the  effort  to  make  Christianity  a 
philosophy.  To  his  mind  it  was  ridiculous.  It 
was  "  to  no  purpose."  It  occupied  the  time  of 
Christians  with  matters  that  did  not  "  contain 
faith."  It  turned  its  attention  away  from  the 
great  population  sunk  in  barbarism  and  needing 
a  Saviour  to  the  unprofitable  dreams  and  misty 
speculations  of  the  groves  of  Greece. 


THE    RESENTMENT    OF    THE    CHURCH        II7 

To  these  new  interpreters  of  Scripture  the  par- 
able of  the  Sheep  that  Went  Astray  and  of  the 
Lost  Piece  of  Money  indicated,  not  the  straying 
of  some  poor  human  being  from  the  will  and  pur- 
pose of  the  heavenly  Father,  but  the  wandering 
of  the  aeon  Achamoth  beyond  the  pleroma  into 
regions  of  darkness  and  vacuity,  which  was  the 
first  act  in  the  drama  of  creation.  How  such  an 
interpretation  must  have  shocked  the  deep  spirit- 
ual earnestness  of  every  Christian  who  retained 
that  passion  for  men  which  was  the  dynamic  of 
the  apostolic  church!  The  fires  of  Christianity 
were  about  to  vanish  in  the  smoke  of  philosophy. 
What  profit  could  there  possibly  be  in  an  inter- 
pretation that  declared  that  the  story  of  Simeon 
taking  the  infant  Christ  in  his  arms  meant  the 
Demiurge  rendering  thanks  to  Buthos  for  the 
arrival  of  the  world-forming  aeon?  The  first 
creative  Tetrad — Father,  Monogenes,  Charis,  and 
Aletheia — was  found  in  the  expression,  "  the 
glory  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth."  The  second  Tetrad — Logos, 
Zoe,  Anthropos,  and  Ecclesia — was  found  in  the 
statement  that  the  word  "  was  life,  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men." 

To     one     unacquainted     with    the     Platonic 


Il8  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

doctrine  of  creative  ideas  these  speculations 
seem  like  the  veriest  nonsense.  No  doubt  they  so 
seemed  to  the  majority  of  Christians  of  the  second 
century.  But  to  the  Gnostic  they  were  filled  with 
significance,  and  the  student  of  philosophy  can 
trace  directly  the  connection  between  this  idealism 
and  the  theology  of  Origen  and  Athanasius.  The 
Fathers  denounced  it,  the  assemblies  scorned  it, 
the  bishops  repudiated  it,  but  it  triumphed  never- 
theless, and  another  form  of  Platonism  justified 
itself  from  Scripture  by  interpretations  just  as 
fanciful  as  those  of  Heracleon  and  Valentinus.  It 
seemed  foolish  to  common  Christians,  unin- 
structed  in  the  schools,  to  say  that  the  daughter  of 
the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  was  a  type  of  Acha- 
moth ;  that  the  words,  "  Why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me  ? "  mean  the  desertion  of  Sophia  by  Horos ; 
and  that  the  thirty  years  of  silence  in  the  life  of 
Christ  indicate  an  Ogdoad,  a  Decad,  and  a  Duo- 
decad  of  Aeons.  When  Irenseus  said  that  the 
men  who  use  such  methods  of  interpretation  en- 
deavor "  to  adapt  the  oracles  of  God  to  their  base- 
less fictions,  by  violently  drawing  away  from  their 
proper  connection,  words,  expressions,  and  para- 
bles, wherever  found,"  ^  he  but  told  the  truth.  But 

1  Iren.,  I.,  8,    i. 


THE    RESENTMENT    OF    THE    CHURCH        1 19 

he  did  the  same  thing  himself.  And  to  this  day 
theology  continues  to  do  it.  Indeed,  the  assump- 
tion that  a  complete  system  of  doctrine  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Scriptures  forces  her  to  do  it.  Yet 
the  fact  remains  that  a  morally  earnest  church, 
whose  interest  was  in  men  and  not  in  aeons,  was 
so  shocked  by  this  misuse  of  her  documents  that 
she  proceeded  to  brand  her  first  systematic 
theologians  as  heretics  and  outcasts. 

One  other  tendency  was  opposed  by  the  Alogi. 
Of  the  Apocalypse  they  were  wont  to  say,  ''  Of 
what  profit  is  it  to  me,  when  the  Apocalypse  of 
John  speaks  to  me  concerning  seven  angels  and 
seven  trumpets?"  We  can  almost  hear  them 
laugh  as  they  say,  "  And  it  says,  ^  Go  and  tell  the 
angel,  Loose  the  four  angels  that  are  bound  in 
the  great  river  Euphrates.'  And  the  number  of 
the  army  were  two  hundred  thousand  thousand, 
and  they  had  breastplates  of  fire  and  of  jacinth 
and  of  brimstone."  Says  some  good  Alogi 
brother,  "  Now,  what  nonsense  that  Is !  "  "  These 
men,"  says  Epiphanius,  "  seem  to  be  afraid  that 
the  truth  will  become  ridiculous."  ^  It  is  evident 
that  the  Alogi  had  little  sympathy  with  the  belief 
in  the  continuance  of  the  prophetic  spirit.     The 

*  Epiphanius,  Haer.,  51,  32. 


I20  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Speculations  over  apocalypses,  the  feverish  ex- 
pectations of  unsettled  minds,  the  wild  dreams 
and  visionary  hopes,  tended  just  as  much  to  di- 
vert the  energies  of  the  church  from  her  great 
work  of  redemption  as  did  the  refining  exegesis  of 
the  schools  of  Gnosticism.  To  an  ordinary  Chris- 
tian, with  little  insight  into  theological  and  his- 
torical matters,  both  these  tendencies  would  seem 
extremely  ridiculous.  An  untutored  mind,  inter- 
ested in  matters  of  a  practical  nature,  would  not 
make  fine  distinctions  between  parties  and  schools, 
but  would  condemn  all  movements  that  were  to 
"  no  purpose,"  and  that  dealt  with  things  that  did 
not  "  concern  faith."  Irenseus  evidently  refers  to 
the  Alogi  when  he  says,  *'  Others,  that  they  may 
set  at  nought  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  do  not  admit 
that  aspect  presented  by  John's  Gospel,  in  which 
the  Lord  promised  that  he  would  send  the  Para- 
clete, but  set  aside  at  once  both  the  gospel  and  the 
prophetic  Spirit."  ^ 

The  Alogi  represent  the  first  impulse  of  the 
church  toward  outward  unity.  They  perceived 
that  both  Montanism  and  Gnosticism  appealed  to 
the  same  group  of  literature  in  defense  of  their 
dreams  of  the  Paraclete  and  their  speculations  on 

^  Iren.,  Ill,,  ii,  9. 


THE    RESENTMENT    OF    THE    CHURCH        121 

the  Logos.  The  Alogi  at  once  determined  that  as 
these  doctrines  were  creating  divisions  and  were 
turning  the  church  aside  from  its  proper  work, 
they  must  be  wrong,  and  the  documents  from 
which  they  were  drawn  must  be  falsified.  So 
they  attempted  to  stop  the  whole  matter  by  at- 
tributing the  Johannine  writings  to  Cerinthus. 
Their  remedy  was  uncritical,  and  was  just  the  sort 
of  a  solution  that  would  be  proposed  by  minds  of 
little  insight.  They  thought  to  find  unity  by  re- 
moving all  foundation  from  under  the  dreamers 
and  philosophers.  Had  the  church  possessed  a 
New  Testament,  from  which  it  was  customary  to 
justify  all  doctrines,  such  an  act  would  have  re- 
moved the  foundation  from  the  church  itself. 
But  the  church  possessed  no  New  Testament. 
Her  great  mass  of  literature  was  yet  in  a  chaotic 
state.  The  plan  of  unity  proposed  by  the  Alogi 
did  not  succeed,  not  because  they  rejected  the  Gos- 
pel of  John,  but  because  the  doctrines  of  the  Logos 
and  the  Paraclete  were  too  deeply  rooted  in  Chris- 
tion  history  and  experience  to  be  treated  in  a 
manner  so  cavalier.  Men  who  saw  more  deeply 
into  the  movements  of  the  day  must  have  realized 
that  the  rejection  of  a  group  of  documents  would 
not  put  an  end  to  Gnosticism  and  Montanism. 


122  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

The  Alogi  existed  in  the  church  for  some  time. 
What  their  strength  was  in  other  places  we  may 
only  surmise  from  their  influence  in  Rome,  where 
the  movement  was  not  native.  Theodoret  no 
doubt  belonged  to  them.  There  are  good  reasons 
for  thinking  that  Caius  derived  his  objections  to 
the  Apocalypse  from  them.  Hippolytus,  who 
was  Bishop  of  Portus,  near  Rome,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  third  century,  attempted  a  refutation 
of  their  doctrines  in  his  "  Philosophumena."  We 
have  seen  that  Epiphanius,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  fourth  century,  was  writing  against  them,  and 
was  the  first  to  give  them  a  name.  Indeed,  all  in- 
dications point  to  the  fact  that  the  movement  was 
not  an  organized  effort  at  all,  but  merely  an  ex- 
pression of  the  body  of  common  Christians,  who 
did  not  see  deeply  into  the  matter,  but  who  knew 
that  something  was  wrong.  The  Alogi  mark  a 
period  in  the  history  of  the  church  when  the  criti- 
cism of  the  documents  was  very  free,  when  it  was 
not  definitely  settled  that  a  good  Christian  could 
not  reject  the  Gospel  of  John,  when  men  were  tol- 
erated who  opposed  heretics  with  the  most  drastic 
measures,  when  the  questions  raised  by  the  philos- 
ophers were  becoming  common  property,  and 
when    the    problem    of    theological    unity    was 


THE    RESENTMENT    OF    THE    CHURCH        I23 

assuming  an  importance  that  overshadowed 
everything  else.  They  prove  conclusively  that  the 
church  of  their  day  did  not  think  that  the  all-im- 
portant thing  about  the  Gospel  of  John  was  that 
it  belonged  to  a  definite  and  settled  group  of 
inspired  and  authoritative  documents. 

Who  shall  say  that  this  movement  does  not  give 
us  a  true  insight  into  the  ''  Christian  conscious- 
ness "  of  the  second  century  ?  The  same  men  who 
objected  to  the  Ogdoad  of  Valentinus  also  ob- 
jected to  the  Trinity  of  Tertullian.  No  such 
things  were  to  be  found  in  the  documents,  they 
declared.  Either  Heracleon's  grotesque  interpre- 
tations of  John  were  not  correct  or  else  the  Gospel 
of  John  was  not  Christian.  This  was  the  di- 
lemma. Some  reached  one  conclusion  and  some 
another.  All  were  agreed  that  the  metaphysical 
movement  was  a  shift  of  emphasis,  that  to  make 
the  lost  sheep  in  the  parable  an  aeon  instead  of  a 
forsaken  and  outcast  humanity  was  to  Hellenize 
Christianity,  and  that  no  such  "  systems  "  were 
to  be  found  in  the  apostolic  writings  anyway. 
Even  the  Fathers,  whose  writings  have  come 
down  to  us,  took  this  stand  when  speaking  of  the 
heretics.  Their  point  of  divergence  from  men 
like  the  Alogi  consisted  in  the  fact  that  they  did 


124  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

not  deny  that  there  was  a  rounded  and  completed 
system  of  thought  to  be  found  in  the  apostoHc 
books.  What  they  did  deny  was  that  the  Gnostics 
had  found  this  system.  Until  the  confusion  could 
be  cleared  up  and  some  definite  theological  pro- 
gramme could  be  adopted  it  was  sufficient  to  ad- 
mit the  fundamental  hypothesis  of  the  heretics, 
and  to  deny  their  conclusions.  This  was  done,  with 
more  or  less  consistency,  by  both  Irenaeus  and 
Tertullian.  They  had  an  easy  time  in  ridiculing 
the  teaching  of  the  Gnostics,  because  the  judg- 
ment of  the  great  unthinking  mass  of  Christians 
was  with  them,  and  the  vast  majority  of  the  as- 
semblies were  ready  to  laugh  the  philosophers  out 
of  court.  The  falsehood  of  their  position  con- 
sisted in  the  assumption  that  the  Christian  books 
contained  a  final  and  completed  system  of  the- 
ology, which  eventually  must  be  brought  to  light 
by  a  process  of  speculation.  The  common  Chris- 
tian, to  whom  Christianity  was  a  vital  reality,  a 
present-day  experience,  a  continuance  of  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Spirit,  and  was  not  yet  bound  up 
with  any  set  of  historical  events  or  documents, 
was  far  nearer  the  truth  than  those  who  led  the 
church  on  into  the  hierarchy. 


VI 
MARCION'S   NEW  TESTAMENT 


VI 


THE  first  closed  canon  of  Christian  writings 
was  given  to  the  world  by  Marcion.  This 
great  leader  and  organizer,  who  was  the  son  of  a 
bishop  of  Sinope,  came  to  Rome  some  time  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Hadrian.  We 
cannot  enter  minutely  into  his  teaching  here,  save 
to  show  the  interest  and  the  motive  that  led  him 
to  the  formation  of  a  New  Testament  canon.  In- 
deed, it  is  utterly  impossible  to  trace  back  to 
Marcion  a  completed  and  consistent  system,  or 
even  the  elements  of  one.  His  interest  was  not 
speculative.  He  cared  little  for  theories,  and 
much  for  men.  He  was  a  strong  religious  char- 
acter, and  the  gospel,  to  his  mind,  was  not  an 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  but  a 
means  of  redemption  from  the  world.  In  this 
respect  Marcion  is  to  be  classed  with  those  old- 
fashioned  Christians,  who  resisted  the  Helleniz- 
ing  tendencies  of  the  second  century.  He  ex- . 
pressly  claimed  for  his  work  that  it  was  not  an  I 
innovation  but  a  restoration  of  the  gospel.^     He 

^TertuUian,  Adv.  Mar.,  20,   i. 

127 


128  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

put  his  emphasis  on  faith,  and  not  on  "  gnosis." 
He  never  used  the  allegorical  method  of  inter- 
pretation. He  had  no  esoteric  and  exoteric  doc- 
trines to  propound.  In  short,  he  is  to  be  regarded, 
not  as  a  philosopher,  but  as  a  reformer. 

Becoming  convinced  that  there  w^as  a  violent 
contrast  between  the  teaching  of  Paul  and  the 
growing  Catholic  hierarchy  of  his  day,  he  set  out 
to  purify  Christianity.  His  point  of  departure 
was  the  Pauline  antithesis  between  faith  and 
works,  between  the  gospel  and  the  law,  between 
the  children  of  wrath  and  the  children  of  grace. 
This  contrast,  backed  by  a  strong  moral  and  re- 
demptive dualism,  and  a  mind  that  loved  to  dwell 
in  the  paradoxical,  led  Marcion,  as  it  at  one  time 
led  Luther,  to  certain  untenable  extremes.  Be- 
ing utterly  unable  to  understand  the  Pauline  sug- 
gestion that  "  the  law  is  a  schoolmaster  to  lead 
us  to  Christ,"  he  rejected  entirely  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, attributing  it  to  an  evil  god — the  god  of 
wrath,  who  is  the  direct  antithesis  of  the  Chris- 
tian God  of  mercy  and  love.  Marcion  delighted 
in  emphasizing  the  tender  attributes  of  the  good 
God,  who  is  the  Father  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The 
evil  god  was  the  creator  of  the  world.  He  was  a 
being  whose  stern  justice  was  un tempered  by  any 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  1 29 

mercy,  and  whose  wrath  knew  no  forgiveness. 
In  striking  contrast  to  him  was  the  God  of  the 
Christian.  "  Our  God,"  say  the  Marcionites,  "  al- 
though he  did  not  manifest  himself  from  the  be- 
ginning and  by  means  of  creation,  has  yet  re- 
vealed himself  in  Christ  Jesus."  ^  "  One  work 
is  sufficient  for  our  God;  he  has  delivered  man 
by  his  supreme  and  most  excellent  goodness, 
which  is  more  important  than  the  creation  of 
locusts."  ^ 

Tertullian  devotes  one  whole  book  in  his 
reply  to  Marcion  to  the  Christo-centric  char- 
acter of  his  religion.  The  revelation  of  God 
in  Christ  was  put  before  all  things  else.  This 
emphasis  was  no  doubt  the  strength  of  the  po- 
sition of  Marcion.  His  weakness  consisted  in  the 
cavalier  and  arbitrary  manner  in  which  he  treated 
the  great  question,  which  was  demanding  solu- 
tion in  his  day,  as  to  the  relation  of  Judaism  and 
Christianity.  It  was  Marcion  himself  who  first 
put  the  question,  "  What  new  thing  did  the  Lord 
bring  us  by  his  advent  ?  "  ^  It  was  an  uncom- 
fortable question  for  those  who  were  founding 
the    Catholic    hierarchy.      The    answer    to    this 

*  Adv.  Mar.,  I.,  19.  ^  Adv.  Mar.,  I.,  17. 

*  Iren.,  IV.,  34,   i. 


130  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

question  made  by  Paul  was  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  tendency  of  the  day.  That  Marcion  did  not 
answer  it  correctly,  either,  is  no  reason  for  think- 
ing that  his  solution  was  more  wide  of  the  mark 
than  that  of  the  great  church.  The  early  ethical 
ideal  that  is  found  in  the  Didache,  in  Barnabas, 
and  in  so  many  of  the  first  Christian  writings 
seemed  to  him  to  teach  the  false  Jewish  doctrine 
of  salvation  by  works.  Christianity  was  to  the 
writers  of  these  documents  nothing  but  a  new 
law.  As  Luther  would  cast  out  the  Epistle  of 
James  as  "  an  epistle  of  straw,"  so  Marcion  would 
banish  the  great  mass  of  the  early  documents  and 
consign  them  to  the  brush-heap.  Even  the  Gos- 
pels had  been  corrupted  in  the  interest  of  this 
false  tendency. 

Like  a  good  Tiibingen  critic,  Marcion  reveled 
in  the  second  chapter  of  Galatians.  Paul  had  been 
obliged  to  separate  himself  entirely  from  the  rest 
of  the  apostles,  because  they  would  cling  to  their 
Judaism.  Tertullian  complains  that  Marcion  al- 
ways makes  Jews  of  the  apostles.  "  On  all  oc- 
casions you  wish  them  to  be  understood  to  be  in 
alliance  with  Judaisim."  ^  Irenaeus  says:  *' He 
maintained  that  the  apostles  preached  the  gospel 

lAdv.   Mar.,   V.,   3. 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  I3I 

while  still  under  the  influence  of  Jewish  opin- 
ions " ;  ^  and  elsewhere  he  says  that  the  Marcion- 
ites  "  maintain  that  the  apostles  intermingled  the 
things  of  the  law  with  the  things  of  the  Sa- 
viour." ^  "  The  separation  of  the  law  and  the 
gospel,"  says  TertuUian,  *'  is  the  peculiar  and 
principal  work  of  Marcion."  ^  This  separation 
Marcion  effected  in  a  work  called  the  "  An- 
titheses," *  which  was  exalted  to  a  place  of  au- 
thority among  his  followers.^ 

Two  things  led  Marcion  to  this  radical  posi- 
tion— the  drift  of  the  church  away  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  gospel  and  in  the  direction  of  a 
hierarchy,  and  the  lack  of  any  tendency  or  prin- 
ciple of  reconciliation  in  his  own  mind.  He 
had  the  rugged  nature  of  a  reformer,  and  he 
never  used  the  allegorical  method  of  interpre- 
tation. His  mind  was  not  adjustable.  Ter- 
tuUian frequently  accuses  him  of  failing  to  prove 
his  assertions.  This  much  is  to  be  said  for 
him,  though  he  did  not  comprehend  Paul's 
means  of  preserving  the  Old  Testament,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  law  was  no  longer  of  any  avail, 

^  Iren.,   III.,  2,  2.  ^  Iren.,   III.,    12,   12. 

'  x\dv.  Mar.,  I.,  2.     See  also  II.,  28;  IV.,  i;   Iren.,  I.,  2T,  2. 

*Adv.  Mar.,  I.,  19;   II.,  28;   IV.,   i;  Philos.,  VII.,  30. 

°  Adv.   Mar.,   I.,    19. 


132  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Still  he  did  grasp  the  deep  Pauline  principle  of 
justification,  which  the  church  of  his  day  had  lost. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  formation 
of  a  New  Testament  without  some  preceding  dis- 
cussion as  to  its  relation  to  the  Old  Testament. 
It  was  perfectly  natural  that  this  discussion  should 
begin  with  an  emphasis  upon  the  Christianity  of 
Paul,  and  with  a  complete  rejection  of  the  Old 
Testament.  This  much  we  could  have  reasoned 
out  if  we  had  never  known  of  Marcion  or  of  the 
formation  of  a  hierarchy  which  he  resisted.  To 
this  day  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  sin  and  grace, 
in  the  form  of  Augustinianism,  and  the  Catholic 
practice  of  justification  by  works,  lie  side  by  side 
in  that  old  church,  with  no  attempt  at  reconcilia- 
tion. How  the  writer  of  the  ''  Confessions " 
could  remain  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  hierarchy 
must  ever  remain  a  mystery.  Even  our  Prot- 
estantism is  frequently  becoming  one-sided,  and 
driving  out  of  its  ranks  men  of  strong  ethical 
tendencies.  We  must  not  be  too  hard  on  Mar- 
cion because  he  could  not  make  the  law  and  the 
gospel  live  together  in  peace. 

His  was  far  from  being  a  weak  or  nerveless 
Christianity.  No  Christian  community  in  the  sec- 
ond century  insisted  so  strongly  on  renunciation 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  1 33 

of  the  world  as  did  the  Marcionites.  Union 
of  the  sexes  was  not  allowed;  even  the  married 
had  to  be  separated  before  they  could  be  bap- 
tized. The  most  rigid  rules  in  regard  to  eating 
and  drinking  were  enforced.  The  members  of 
his  church  found  great  joy  in  martyrdom.  In- 
deed, so  preeminent  were  they  for  the  strictness 
of  their  morality  that  the  church  Fathers  were 
at  a  great  disadvantage  in  answering  them.  This 
asceticism  rooted  itself  in  a  strong  dualism,  which 
Marcion  justified  by  the  Pauline  antithesis  of 
flesh  and  spirit,  death  and  life.  He  made  much 
of  such  passages  in  Paul  as  the  seventh  chapter 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Still  there  was  a  great  deal  of  the  Greek  about 
Marcion,  and  his  dualism  had  just  a  little  Platonic 
tinge.  When  we  try  to  find  a  consistent  theory  in 
his  teachings,  however,  we  are  lost  in  a  labyrinth 
of  contradictions  and  uncertainties.  His  main  in- 
terest was  the  preservation  of  the  Pauline  doc- 
trine of  redemption,  and  different  theological  ten- 
dencies soon  appeared  in  his  church,  which  were 
mutually  tolerant  of  each  other,  showing  that  his 
movement  did  not  have  a  speculative  foundation, 
as  did  the  Gnostic  schools.  It  was  a  missionary 
and  reformative  effort  to  persuade  men  to  accept 


134  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

the  divine  mercy  offered  them  in  Christ,  to  get 
them  to  renounce  their  self-righteous  pride  for  a 
Hfe  of  grace  and  forgiveness,  to  lead  them  to  re- 
ject the  law  and  the  Old  Testament  for  the  true 
gospel  as  proclaimed  by  Paul,  and  to  help  them 
to  conquer  sin  by  a  strict  mortification  of  the  body 
and  a  sincere  renunciation  of  the  world. 

We  can  understand  now  the  interest  which  led 
Marcion  to  the  formation  of  a  canon.  To  purify 
the  documents  from  all  interpolations,  to  restore 
the  gospel  to  its  true  Pauline  basis,  and  to  make 
it  impossible  for  future  ages  again  to  corrupt  the 
stream  of  tradition,  he  took  up  the  task  of  form- 
ing a  closed  collection  of  authoritative  Christian 
writings.  In  this  he  was  perfectly  sincere,  and 
possessed  the  tremendous  advantage  of  being  the 
first  to  try  to  found  a  "  New  Testament  Church." 
His  movement  possessed  no  theological  basis,  and 
no  new  prophets  ever  appeared  among  his  follow- 
ers. There  was  but  one  course  open  to  him,  and 
that  was  an  appeal  to  the  written  memorials  of 
Christianity.  He  was  the  first  to  endeavor  to  fix 
the  boundaries  of  inspired  Christian  documents, 
and  to  exalt  a  definite  collection  of  writings  to  the 
plane  of  canonical  authority.  This  does  not  mean 
that  he  valued  the  writings  any  more  highly  than 


marcion's  new  testament  135 

did  the  church  at  large,  but  that  he  made  an  effort 
to  settle  definitely  the  number  of  them  that  were 
authoritative.  Without  such  an  effort  there  can 
be  no  "  canon." 

The  object  of  Marcion  in  doing  this  was  to 
secure  and  preserve  the  Pauline  principle  of  justi- 
fication and  grace,  which  to  him  was  ''  the  gos- 
pel," from  all  future  mixtures  and  corruptions. 
When  the  church  at  large  formed  her  canon  in 
later  years  it  was  with  the  desire  of  keeping  in- 
tact the  form  of  the  apostolic  teaching.  She  had 
precisely  the  same  motive  as  had  Marcion.  Nat- 
urally the  nucleus  of  his  canon  was  a  collection  of 
the  Epistles  of  Paul.  These  came  in  the  following 
order:  Galatians,  First  Corinthians,  Second  Cor- 
inthians, Romans,  First  Thessalonians,  Second 
Thessalonians,  Ephesians  (which  Marcion  knew 
by  the  name  of  "  Laodiceans  "),  Colossians,  Phil- 
ippians,  and  Philemon.  He  did  not  recognize  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  nor  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
That  he  did  not  alter  the  text  much  of  the  ac- 
cepted Epistles  is  evident.  Even  the  proofs  ad- 
duced by  Tertullian  and  Epiphanius  go  to  show 
that  he  preserved  the  Epistles  as  he  found  them, 
with  the  slight  alteration  of  a  fe  v  words. 

Beside  this  collection,   which  was  known  as 


\ 


136  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

''  The  Apostolicon,"  his  canon  possessed  another 
part,  which  was  known  as  "  The  Gospel."  He 
took  a  manuscript,  substantially  identical  with 
our  Gospel  of  Luke,  and  make  corrections  and 
emendations,  in  order  to  eliminate  all  traces  of 
Judaism,  which  he  regarded  as  corruptions  of  the 
text.  He  was  probably  attracted  to  this  form 
of  the  gospel  narrative  because  of  its  frequent 
incidents  putting  Jesus  in  the  light  of  the  Saviour 
of  sinners.  It  lent  itself  beautifully  to  the  re- 
demptive interest,  which  was  a  passion  to  Mar- 
cion.  Then  too,  he  may  have  thought  that  this 
Gospel  had  been  influenced  less  by  the  false  ethical 
ideals  of  the  Judaizers.  Whether  he  knew  it  under 
the  name  of  Luke,  and  whether  he  was  attracted 
to  it  because  it  had  already  been  connected  with 
the  name  of  Paul  we  do  not  know.  We  only  know 
that  Marcion  called  it  simply  "  The  Gospel,"  and 
held  that  it  was  what  Paul  had  in  mind  when  he 
referred  to  his  Gospel. 

We  have  no  time,  and  it  would  profit  us  little 

if  we  had,  to  enter  into  the  discussions  of  the 

Fathers  over  the  textual  emendations  of  Marcion. 

I  His  importance  in  a  history  of  the  rise  of  the 

|New  Testament  canon  is  the  fact  that  he  first 

lendeavored  to  close  the  book,  and  did  it  on  the 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  I37 

basis  that  it  must  be  an  absolute  homogeneity. 
His  conception  that  a  canon  must  contain  no  con- 
tradictory teachings,  and  that  no  opposing  indi- 
viduahties  must  obtrude  themselves,  was  precisely 
the  idea  which  the  church  adopted  in  later  times. 
But  the  church  Fathers  possessed  one  advantage 
over  Marcion;  they  were  able  to  reconcile  the 
most  diverse  statements  by  their  allegorical 
method  of  interpretation,  and  so  could  accept  a 
much  larger  number  of  documents.  But  even  in 
this  there  must  have  been  a  charm  about  a  rugged 
and  earnest  character  who  had  the  courage  to 
cut  out  the  hard  passages  instead  of  explaining 
them  away.  Paul  had  released  Christianity  from 
the  fetters  of  Judaism ;  but  his  deep  mystical  con- 
ception of  "  faith  "  had  never  been  grasped  by 
the  church  at  large.  It  is  safe  to  infer  that  there 
never  would  have  been  a  great  hierarchy  formed 
in  the  second  century  had  Paul  been  thoroughly 
understood.  The  idea  of  Christianity  as  a  "  new 
law  "  could  never  have  taken  such  deep  root  in  a 
Pauline  church.  It  was  this  idea  that  Marcion 
was  combating,  and  it  was  inevitable  that  the 
first  effort  in  the  direction  of  the  freedom  of 
faith  should  take  on  certain  strong  antinomian 
tendencies. 


138  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

As  for  the  canon,  the  church  had  possessed  one 
in  the  Old  Testament  for  over  a  hundred  years, 
and  had  been  allegorizing  Christian  truth  into  it. 
We  cannot  conceive  a  second  closed  canon  of  reve- 
lation coming  into  existence  without  some  pre- 
vious speculation  as  to  the  relation  of  the  two.  In 
such  a  speculation  the  Pauline  Epistles  must  stand 
in  the  foreground.  No  one  else  had  so  deeply  and 
thoroughly  entered  into  the  question  of  the  di- 
vergence of  the  Christian  from  the  Jewish  system. 
It  was  Marcion's  task  to  raise  this  question  anew. 
It  had  slept  for  nearly  a  century,  and  the  apostolic 
Fathers  had  gone  on  enunciating  ethical  rules  that 
Luther  would  have  called  *'  straw."  The  em- 
phasis Marcion  laid  upon  personal  religion,  as 
opposed  to  all  legalistic  and  ceremonial  enact- 
ments was  genuinely  Pauline.  That  he  should 
have  come  at  it  by  a  sweeping  rejection  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  not  so  very  surprising.  How 
could  there  be  two  authoritative  canons?  When 
they  disagreed,  as  certainly  they  would  in  the  case 
of  two  such  different  systems  as  Christianity  and 
Judaism,  what  possible  appeal  could  there  be? 
The  Catholic  answer  is,  "  Appeal  to  the  author- 
ized successors  of  the  apostles."  Marcion  was 
enough  of  a  Protestant  to  refuse  to  admit  such 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  I39 

an  appeal.  He  insisted  that  the  Christian  canon 
was  sufficient.  In  this  again  he  has  the  Fathers 
at  a  great  disadvantage.  They  stumble  and 
quibble  in  endeavoring  to  answer  him.  Their 
most  frequent  and  effective  answer  is  simple  de- 
nunciation. He  does  not  accept  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. What  better  sign  that  he  is  not  a  true 
Christian?  Why  he  does  not  accept  it  is  a  ques- 
tion that  raises  uncomfortable  issues,  and  few  of 
the  Fathers  are  able  to  handle  such  a  tremendous 
problem. 

If  we  had  started  out  with  a  theory  instead 
of  with  an  examination  of  the  facts  of  history, 
our  knowledge  of  Christianity  would  have  led  us, 
no  doubt,  to  predict  that  there  would  be  a  con- 
flict between  the  "  law  "  and  the  "  gospel  "  be- 
fore two  closed  volumes  of  authoritative  literature 
could  be  included  in  one  book.  That  we  find 
this  actually  happening  in  the  case  of  Marcion 
is  therefore  not  remarkable.  Nor  is  it  remarkable 
that  Marcion  was  finally  put  down  by  the  forma- 
tion of  that  strange  system  that  enabled  Augustine 
to  be  such  a  devout  believer  in  the  free  grace  of 
God,  and  such  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  principle 
that  that  grace  could  only  be  mediated  through 
the  sacraments  of  a  hierarchy.    The  church  never 


140  IOf<MAIK)N    OF    Nr:W    TKSTAMKNT 

really  took  li<»M  of  ihc  qticstion  raised  by  Marcion, 
l)iit  pill  flown  Ins  niov(!nicnt  by  ui.iiii  force,  bound 
lip  llic  Iwo  caiioiis  iiilo  (Jiic,  and  left  flic  two 
j)rinciplcs  sidt-  by  side  in  licr  system,  snbordi- 
natin^,  of  course,  the  innci  life,  to  tlic  onlcr 
ceremonies. 

'J  be  bistory  of  (  Inisfianity  contains  tbc  record 
of  numberless  cfToits  lo  reverse  ibis  subordina- 
tion, making  tbe  form  llie  servant  of  tbe  spirit. 
Tbe  Pauline  conception,  wbicb  tbe  j^rcat  apostle 
no  donbf  obtained  from  (brist,  tliat  tbe  etbical 
and  ceremonial  life  is  lo  be  regarded  as  merely 
tbc  "  fnu't  "  of  an  inner,  spiritual  transformation, 
lias  been  a  most  uncomforlabb!  i)rincij)le  to  tbc 
bienircby.  iJy  it  Lutlicr  slior)k  ICurope;  and  by 
it  tbe  mystics  bave  oflcn  tried  to  overtbnjw  all 
orp^aui/.ation.  lOveii  tbe  Proteslant  cburcb  bas  not 
yet  found  a  way  to  live  vvitli  it  in  (onifoit.  Adoj)t- 
inj^  tbe  principle,  first  enunciated  by  Marcion,  oi 
a  cburcb  founded  on  llie  New  Testament,  sbe  bas 
found  tbat  tbe  tbou^dif  of  an  inner  autbority  of 
tbe  Spirit  bas  been  turned  against  ber  autbor- 
itativc  book.  Just  as  tbe  ('atbolic  Cburcb  was 
driven  by  Marcion  info  ,1  cr)mproinise  tbat  sub- 
ordinated tbe  l*aulinc  priiK  iple  fo  a  bierarcby,  so 
tbe  vaj^aries  of  tbe  mystics  drove  Protestantism 


MAKCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  14! 

to  a  theory  l)y  which  (he  inner  revelation  of 
the  Sj)irit  was  snbonhnated  to  that  oi  a  b(jok. 
We  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  that  the  church 
of  the  second  century  met  with  this  problem  too. 
The  very  conception  of  a  closed  canon  of  revela- 
tion was  sm-e  to  meet  with  the  opposition  of  the 
idea  of  (h'rect  revelations  from  the  Spirit,  which 
in  the  be^innin^  had  i)ro(hiced  the  canonical 
books.  Indeed,  the  i'.[)istles  of  J*aul,  which  Mar- 
cion  made  the  basis  of  the  first  canon,  contain 
a  conception  of  (  hristianity  which  has  ever  been 
turned  aifainst  the  very  idea  of  a  canon.  In  view 
of  all  these  things  we  cannot  blame  Marcion  very 
strongly  because  he  did  not  understand  the  great 
principle  laid  down  by  the  apostle  he  ])rofes.scd  to 
follow. 

The  church  founded  by  Marcion  grew  to  most 
remarkable  proportions.  ICpiphanius  says  that  in 
his  day  Marcionites  were  to  be  found  in  Rome, 
Italy,  Kgyi)t,  Palestine,  Arabia,  Syria,  Cyi)rus, 
the  Hiebaid,  and  even  in  Persia.  Celsus  divided 
the  CJhri.stian  church  into  two  great  bodies,  one 
of  which  regarded  their  God  as  identical  with  the 
God  of  the  Jews,  and  the  other  of  which  regarded 
theirs  as  a  different  Deity,  and  hrjstile  to  the 
Jews.    The  former  he  calls  the  "  Great  Church  "  ; 


142  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

the  latter  are  the  Marcionites.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  fact  that  soon  after  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  in  every  place  where  a  consider- 
able body  of  Christians  was  to  be  found,  there 
would  be  found  one  of  Marcion's  churches,  with 
a  simple  service,  a  clean-cut  conception  of  the  es- 
sence of  Christianity,  a  definite  canon,  whose 
limits  had  been  fixed,  and  a  body  of  believers 
.  ^noted  for  their  high  moral  standards  and  their 
I  willingness  to  endure  martyrdom.  Their  num- 
•  bers,  relative  to  the  size  of  the  "  great  church," 
must  have  been  equal  to  that  of  the  number  of 
Protestants  to  Catholics  in  the  world  to-day. 
When  we  consider  the  severity  of  their  discipline, 
and  the  exacting  demands  made  upon  all  members 
of  the  Marcionite  church,  this  growth  is  very 
remarkable.  Their  solidarity  must  have  given 
them  the  advantage  for  the  time-being  over  the 
church  at  large,  which  was  just  then  trying  to 
fuse  the  most  diverse  elements  into  a  compact 
whole.  They  had  attempted  to  answer  clearly 
and  finally  the  question,  "  What  is  Christianity  ?  " 
and  they  were  not  subject  to  constant  checks  and 
|quarrels  over  new  revelations,  because  their  canon 
xk)i  authority  was  closed.  The  free  organization 
of    their    churches,    the    lack    of    disintegrating 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  I43 

Speculations  over  metaphysics,  the  genuinely 
spiritual  emphasis  of  their  basic  principle,  the 
strong  testimony  of  the  purity  of  their  lives,  the 
missionary  earnestness  of  their  Pauline  gospel, 
and  the  definite  ground  of  authority  furnished  by 
their  canon — all  these  must  have  conspired  to 
increase  their  strength  and  growth. 

What  worked  most  strongly  against  the  Mar- 
cionites  was  the  fact  that  the  church  was  becom- 
ing secularized,  and  was  feeling  the  necessity  of 
adjusting  itself  to  the  conditions  of  this  world. 
A  body  aiming  at  political  power  could  not  de- 
mand of  all  its  members  that  stern  ascetic  stand- 
ard which  ruled  in  the  churches  of  Marcion.  A 
few  anchorites  might  fly  to  the  desert  or  the 
mountains  for  the  realization  of  a  life  of  purity, 
but  mortification  of  the  body,  delight  in  martyr- 
dom, and  rigid  rules  of  fasting  were  not  accept- 
able to  men  desirous  of  entering  the  world  as  its 
rulers.  A  double  standard  of  morality  had  to  be 
discovered,  by  which  that  dualism,  which  found 
adherents  in  nearly  every  school  of  thought  of 
the  day,  could  be  adjusted  to  well-fed  ecclesiastics, 
as  well  as  gaunt  anchorites.  The  intense  moral 
earnestness  of  the  Marcionites  led  them  to  ex- 
tremes   that    were    hardly    consistent    with    the 


144  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

followers  of  One  who  had  been  called  "  a  wine- 
bibber,  and  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners." 
The  pendulum  was  swinging  away  from  the  ideals 
of  a  persecuted  church  to  those  of  a  great  secular 
organization.  Moral  standards  that  were  en- 
forced when  men  expected  the  sudden  appearance 
of  Christ  on  the  clouds  were  not  applicable  to  a 
church  that  had  gained  a  foothold  in  the  palace 
of  Caesar,  and  was  about  to  gain  possession  of 
the  Roman  scepter  itself.  The  drift  of  the  age 
was  against  the  Marcionites,  and  the  very  depth 
of  their  earnestness,  as  well  as  the  purity  of  their 
lives,  helped  to  make  their  cause  increasingly 
unpopular. 

Then  too,  the  fact  that  they  stood  for  no  defi- 
nite theological  explanation  of  the  universe,  and 
placed  their  emphasis  upon  redemption  rather 
than  speculation  was  a  hindrance  to  their  suc- 
cess. Their  Paulinism  did  not  allow  them  to 
make  that  complete  compromise  with  the  Greek 
spirit,  which  was  the  order  of  the  day.  Redemp- 
tion through  knowledge,  union  with  God  by 
means  of  science,  salvation  by  contemplation  of 
the  creative  methods  of  the  Infinite — these  were 
conceptions  utterly  foreign  to  the  rugged  evangel- 
ism of  the  Marcionite  churches.     They  were  too 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  I45 

much  engaged  with  the  fact  of  sin,  and  with  re- 
sistance to  the  compromising  methods  of  a 
worldly  church,  to  fall  in  with  that  ethereal  and 
theorizing  tendency  that  poured  all  its  energies 
into  trying  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  "  creation 
of  locusts."  It  was  sufficient  for  them  that  God 
had  delivered  man  "  by  his  supreme  and  most 
excellent  goodness,"  and  refinements  over  the  pri- 
ority of  creative  aeons  must  be  made  subordinate 
to  faith  in  Christ.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
the  church  did  not  understand  this  position.  Faith 
in  Christ  had  come  to  mean  an  explanation  of  his 
place  in  the  universe  as  the  creative  Logos,  and 
until  this  problem  could  be  solved,  and  an  am- 
bitious church  could  substitute  a  creed  for  a  life, 
little  foothold  could  be  found  in  it  by  men  like 
Marcion. 

And  yet  there  was  an  element  of  weakness  in 
the  fundamental  position  of  Marcion.  His  very 
claim  to  a  restoration  of  the  gospel,  and  his  ef- 
fort to  found  a  church  on  a  canon,  was  an  appeal 
to  history,  and  shifted  the  basis  of  authority  from 
faith  to  documents.  Here  the  church  had  him 
at  a  great  disadvantage.  However  pure  his  life, 
and  however  noble  his  followers,  when  the  appeal 
was  made  to  the  apostolic  age  he  had  to  be  ruled 


146  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

out  of  court.  He  did  not  accept  the  documents. 
If  this  is  the  test  of  Christianity,  and  it  is  right 
to  appeal  to  a  canon,  then  the  most  upright  and 
honorable  life  will  not  avail  the  Marcionites.  It 
is  all  in  vain  that  they  abstain  from  sins  of  appe- 
tite and  suffer  martyrdom.  They  do  not  belong 
to  the  apostolic  church.  They  do  not  build  on  the 
apostolic  teaching. 

Marcion  saw  clearly  the  falsity  of  such  an  ap- 
peal, and  realized  that  the  emphasis  on  "  apostolic 
Christianity  "  was  making  the  religion  of  Christ 
a  "  new  law,"  and  was  substituting  another  set  of 
ethical  rules  for  those  given  on  Sinai,  and  yet  he 
was  compelled  to  go  back  to  the  apostolic  age  for 
his  principle  of  "  justification  by  faith,"  and  in 
so  doing  he  fell  into  line  with  that  exaltation  of 
the  first  century,  which  was  the  basic  principle  of 
Gnostics  and  church  Fathers  alike.  So  he  helped 
to  raise  the  question,  "  What  was  the  teaching 
of  the  apostles?  "  This  very  question  was  his  un- 
doing. It  drew  attention  away  from  that  vital 
and  personal  relationship  with  a  living  Christ, 
which  was  the  strength  of  his  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  introduced  that  endless  era  of  criti- 
cism and  exegesis  which  to  this  day  holds  the 
church  in  its  grasp.     "  Apostolic  Christianity  "  is 


MARCION  S    NEW    TESTAMENT  I47 

still  the  favorite  topic  of  the  schools,  and  that 
deep  Pauline  conception  that  regards  life's  com- 
mon virtues  as  the  "  fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  that 
seeks  to  enthrone  Christ  at  the  seat  of  the  af- 
fections, that  allows  the  Spirit  to  work  its  way 
out  by  "  the  law  of  liberty,"  that  cares  more  for 
"  the  mind  of  Christ  "  than  for  all  ceremonies 
and  rabbinic  subtleties,  and  that  makes  its  point 
of  departure  a  present-day  inspiration,  rather  than 
a  past  code  of  commands,  is  waiting  for  the  day 
of  ecclesiastics  and  theologians  to  be  over. 


VII 


THE  NEW  PROPHETS 


VII 


THE  theological  chaos  was  not  the  only 
problem  the  early  church  had  to  face.  As 
the  Christian  communities  became  secularized, 
and  a  gradual  adjustment  to  the  life  of  the  em- 
pire was  brought  about,  it  was  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  a  lowering  of  moral  standards, 
and  a  consequent  reaction  in  the  direction  of 
primitive  simplicity  of  life.  These  opposing 
forces,  of  those  who  favored  the  naturalization 
of  Christianity  in  the  world  and  those  who  clung 
to  the  ideal  of  the  days  when  it  was  expected  the 
Lord  would  soon  return,  naturally  came  into  con- 
flict. The  belief  in  the  continuance  of  prophecy, 
in  the  possession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  indi- 
vidual, and  in  the  universal  priesthood  of  believ- 
ers, had  gradually  died  out  in  the  church.  All 
these  primitive  conceptions  were  revived  in  Mon- 
tanism.  But  this  revival  of  the  spirit  of  prophecy 
was  just  as  insubordinate,  just  as  bewildering, 
and  just  as  depolarizing  as  was  the  multitude  of 
philosophical  schools.  Its  great  strength  con- 
sisted in  the  fact  that  it  resisted  so  strongly  the 

151 


152  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

tendency  of  the  church  toward  a  double  standard 
of  morahty,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  a  propa- 
ganda that  lowered  the  requirements  of  sacrifice 
in  order  to  conquer  the  world. 

In  its  inception  the  movement  was  more  than 
a  simple  revival  of  primitive  ideas.  It  began  in 
Asia  Minor,  with  a  Christian  prophet  named 
Montanus,  who,  assisted  by  prophetesses,  set  out 
to  realize  the  superior  things  promised  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  John  by  the  coming  of  the  Paraclete.  We 
have  no  time  in  this  discussion  to  enter  into  the 
vagaries  and  violent  demands  of  the  early  years 
of  this  movement.  As  it  spread  to  the  West  it 
took  on  more  moderate  forms.  The  conception 
that  the  New  Jerusalem  was  to  come  down  in 
Phrygia  was  abandoned.  No  effort  was  made  to 
separate  from  the  church  at  large,  and  all  empha- 
sis was  laid  on  purity  of  conduct  and  character. 
This  deadened  somewhat  the  first  enthusiasm  of 
the  movement,  but  it  enabled  it  to  take  in  whole 
churches,  without  any  appearance  of  schism  or 
heresy.  The  strong  and  courageous  resistance  it 
made  to  the  effort  of  Christianity  to  become  a 
legal  and  political  power  helped  it  greatly.  Its 
earnest  exhortations  for  the  manifestation  of  a 
pure  daily  life,  its  insistence  that  the  Christian 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  1 53 

should  be  willing  to  suffer  martyrdom  joyfully 
for  Christ's  sake,  and  its  support  of  these  things 
by  the  old  belief  in  a  direct  inspiration  of  the 
Spirit,  all  gave  it  great  power  and  influence. 

With  the  third  of  these  only  have  we  to  do  in 
our  discussion.  The  Montanists  believed  in  a 
new  prophecy;  and  this  belief  was  in  direct  an- 
tagonism to  the  conception  of  a  closed  period  of 
revelation  and  of  a  canon.  We  have  no  record 
that  they  ever  insisted  upon  putting  their  books 
into  the  bound  volume.  Indeed,  at  the  beginning 
they  had  no  conception  whatever  of  such  a  vol- 
ume. If  they  had  been  told  of  a  "  New  Testa- 
ment," they  would  liave  claimed  that  theirs  was 
the  "  Newest  Testament."  They  did  actually  call 
their  commands  the  "  newest  law."  But  as  the 
movement  spread  through  the  West,  with  its  de- 
sire to  maintain  connection  with  the  great  body 
of  the  church,  it  found  difliculty  in  reconcil- 
ing its  position  with  the  idea  of  a  past  period 
of  revelation,  which  was  becoming  generally  ac-  J 
cepted  there.  The  contest  narrowed  down  to  two 
points — whether  there  could  be  a  continuance 
of  Christian  prophecy  and  whether  the  laxity  of 
moral  character  should  be  allowed  to  continue 
in  the  church.     As  soon  as  the  idea  of  a  New 


154  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Testament  was  generally  accepted,  the  conception 
of  a  later  and  superior  revelation  of  the  Paraclete 
could  not  be  tolerated  for  a  moment.  And  yet 
what  could  a  man  do  who  had  been  led  to  believe 
in  the  necessity  of  a  closed  canon  as  a  means  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  speculation  of  Gnostic 
schools,  who  yet  sympathized  with  the  Monta- 
nists,  because  of  their  ideal  of  a  pure  life  and 
strict  moral  conduct?  A  church  that  allowed 
its  members  too  great  freedom  and  looseness  of 
life  could  surely  make  no  claim  to  a  complete 
preservation  of  the  ideal  of  the  apostles.  This 
fact  would  lead  an  earnest  man  to  sympathize 
with  the  Montanists.  On  the  other  hand,  this 
same  earnest  man,  observing  the  secularizing 
tendency  of  Gnosticism,  and  realizing  that  a  fixed 
body  of  Christian  doctrine  could  not  be  formed 
without  a  canon  of  apostolic  literature,  would 
sympathize  with  the  effort  to  form  a  New  Testa- 
ment. Such  a  man  would  be  in  an  almost  hopeless 
tangle. 

There  was,  in  fact,  such  a  man.  We  have  but 
to  turn  to  the  writings  of  Tertullian  to  observe 
the  conflict  of  the  two  principles  of  a  continua- 
tion of  the  prophetic  gift  and  a  closed  period  of 
revelation.     Inasmuch  as  he  tried  to  be  both  a 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  1 55 

Montanist  and  a  Catholic  Christ-an,  we  can  best 
study  in  him  the  antagonism  of  these  two  tend- 
encies. He  tried  hard  to  defend  his  orthodoxy. 
''  They  and  we,"  he  said,  "  have  one  faith,  one 
God,  the  same  Christ,  the  same  hope,  the  same 
baptismal  sacraments.  Let  me  say  it  once  for 
all,  we  are  one  church."  ^  This  sentiment  was 
not  shared  by  the  church  at  large.  Tertullian  was 
a  great  champion  in  the  fight  with  Gnosticism 
and  the  Marcionites,  and  so  was  tolerated;  but 
the  fundamental  principle  of  the  ''  new  prophets  " 
was  directly  contradictory  to  the  conception  of 
a  canon  and  an  apostolic  church.  For  example, 
what  could  be  more  revolutionary  than  a  state- 
ment like  this :  "  For  if  Christ  abrogated  what 
Moses  enjoined,  because  from  the  beginning  it 
was  not  so,  why  may  not  the  Paraclete  abrogate 
an  injunction  which  Paul  granted?  "  ^  What  be- 
comes of  the  doctrine  of  a  final  deposit  of  in- 
spiration, if  it  is  subject  to  constant  corrections 
from  "  modern  prophets  "  ?  It  hardly  seems  pos- 
sible that  the  man  who  so  flatly  and  openly  as- 
serts the  right  to  correct  the  ancient  revelation 
by  more  recent  commands  of  the  Spirit  can  turn 
about  and  say  something  like  this :  "  It  is  true 

^  De  Virg.   Vel.,   2.  2  j)^  Monog.,   14. 


156  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

that  believers  also  have  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  not 
all  believers  are  apostles.  For  apostles  have  the 
Holy  Spirit  properly  who  have  him  fully,  in  the 
operations  of  prophecy,  in  the  efficacy  of  healing, 
and  the  evidences  of  tongues,  not  partially  as  all 
others  have."  ^  It  is  evident  that  the  whole 
question  is  yet  in  a  chaotic  state. 

A  more  complete  statement  of  the  final  author- 
ity of  the  Scriptures  cannot  be  found  anywhere 
than  in  Tertullian.  "  The  Scriptures  deny  what 
they  do  not  affirm,"  ^  he  says.  And  yet  he  tells 
us  that  in  the  interest  of  a  united  church  and  a 
completed  sacrament  it  is  very  essential  "  to  be- 
lieve nothing  conceded  by  John  which  has  been 
flatly  contradicted  by  Paul."  ^  It  is  not  profitable, 
he  thinks,  to  dwell  too  much  "  on  the  authority 
of  those  scriptures  which  are  a  sort  of  cable  of 
contention  with  alternate  pull  in  diverse  direc- 
tions, so  that  one  scripture  may  seem  to  draw 
tight,  another  to  relax,  the  reins  of  discipline — in 
uncertainty,  as  it  were."  *  And  yet,  if  any  of  the 
Fathers  did  this  very  thing,  it  was  Tertullian. 
He  devotes  whole  pages  to  disputing  the  meaning 
of  a  preposition  or  a  phrase.    His  idea  that  the 

1  De  Ex.  Cast.,  4.  ^  pg  Monog.,  4. 

8De  Pud.,  19.  *I>e  Pud-.  2, 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  1 57 

Scriptures  deny  what  they  do  not  affirm  made  it 
absolutely  necessary  that  he  over-emphasize  every 
little  disagreement,  in  a  vain  effort  at  reconcilia- 
tion. The  question  of  marriage — a  most  impor- 
tant matter  to  the  Montanists — gave  him  much 
trouble.  He  says  of  Paul,  "  He  has  introduced 
all  indulgence  in  regard  to  marriage  from  his 
own  opinion — that  is,  from  human  sense;  not 
from  divine  prescript."  ^  He  finds  himself  in  a 
tangle  here,  but  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  Paul 
makes  all  his  declarations  from  his  own  "  personal 
suggestion,  not  from  a  divine  command,"  and  he 
assures  us  that  there  "  is  a  wide  difference  be- 
tween a  precept  of  God  and  a  suggestion  of 
man."  ^  In  this  way  he  endeavors  to  set  aside 
the  whole  seventh  chapter  of  First  Corinthians, 
and  transcend  it  in  the  interest  of  the  sterner  dis- 
cipline of  the  Montanists.  At  times  he  grows 
weary  of  the  whole  process  of  refining  exegesis, 
and  of  the  undue  exaltation  of  particular  passages 
of  Scripture,  and  we  find  him  saying,  ''  We  pre- 
fer, if  it  must  be  so,  to  be  less  wise  in  the  Scrip- 
tures than  to  be  wise  against  them."  ^  "I  am 
content  with  the  fact,"  he  says,  "  that  between 
apostles  there  is  a  common  agreement  in  rules  of 

1  De  Ex.  Cast.,  3.  2  pg  gx.  Cast.,  4.  »  De  Pud.,  9. 


158  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

faith  and  discipline."  ^  And  yet  this  was  just 
what  he  tried  in  vain  to  find.  His  stern  and 
puritanical  soul  was  tried  exceedingly  by  the 
looseness  of  life  that  had  crept  into  the  church, 
as  it  had  become  a  great  world  power.  The  lax 
Christians,  who  sought  to  adjust  themselves  to 
the  ways  of  the  world,  presented  a  strange  con- 
trast to  the  Christians  of  earlier  times.  And  yet 
there  was  no  definite  law  to  which  appeal  could 
be  made.  Arguments  for  both  laxity  and  strict- 
ness could  be  brought  forward  from  the  Scrip- 
tures. It  was  this  very  fact  that  made  the  higher 
revelations  of  the  Montanist  prophets  appeal  to 
the  sterner  souls  in  the  church.  The  "  new  proph- 
ets "  were  explicit  and  definite  in  their  regulations 
in  regard  to  morals,  in  their  insistence  on  absti- 
nence from  second  marriage,  in  their  rules  dealing 
with  fasts,  and  in  their  exhortation  to  endure 
martyrdom  for  Christ's  sake  with  a  willing  heart. 
In  these  respects  they  actually  seemed  to  be  su- 
perior to  the  Scriptures.  This  fact  makes  Ter- 
tullian  again  and  again  rise  to  a  very  lofty  and 
spiritual  conception  of  authority.  He  nobly  de- 
fines the  church  as  follows :  "  The  church  is  the 
Spirit  himself."  ^     Wherever  he  is,  there  is  the 

^De  Pud.,   19.  ^De  Pud.,  21. 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  159 

church.  Authority,  he  declares,  rests  in  this 
"  church  of  the  Spirit,"  and  not  in  '*  the  church 
which  consists  of  a  number  of  bishops." 

It  may  be  asked,  "  How  could  a  man  who  held 
such  views  as  these  be  tolerated  in  the  Catholic 
Church?  "  The  only  answer  is  that  there  was  no 
Catholic  Church.  Such  a  church  was  in  process 
of  formation,  and  we  do  not  have  to  look  far  to 
see  how  useful  Tertullian  was  in  carrying  out  this 
process.  We  find  him  caustically  accusing  the 
great  Marcionite  Church  of  introducing  new  ideas 
into  Christianity.  We  must  remember,  when  we 
read  these  strange  accusations  of  Tertullian,  that 
the  "  new  prophecies,"  which  he  himself  advo- 
cated, were  to  his  mind  simply  a  return  to  first 
principles,  and  to  a  former  manner  of  life.  For 
this  reason  he  is  very  severe  on  the  "  novelties  " 
introduced  by  Marcion.  "  Schoolboys  are  proud 
of  their  new  shoes,"  he  says,  "  but  their  old  master 
beats  their  strutting  vanity  out  of  them."  ^  So, 
he  implies,  will  this  Marcionite  movement,  with  its 
strange  methods  and  conceptions,  be  put  down 
eventually  by  the  lash  of  authority.  That  he  was 
perfectly  right  in  this  prophecy  no  student  of 
history  will  deny.    The  "  old  master  "  at  last  did 

»Adv.  Mar.,  I.,  8. 


l6o  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

beat  the  "  strutting  vanity  "  out  of  every  one  of 
her  refractory  pupils,  including  TertuUian's  own 
"  prophets." 

He  complains  bitterly  that  the  church  is  "  set- 
ting boundary-posts  to  God."  ^  and  declares  that 
all  that  remains  now  is  to  banish  him  entirely 
from  the  world.  He  felt  deeply  the  effect  upon 
the  lives  of  Christians  of  the  unspiritual  concep- 
tion of  a  closed  era  of  revelation.  Why  then, 
we  ask,  did  he  not  find  some  other  weapon  with 
which  to  fight  Marcion  than  to  take  up  the  Catho- 
lic cry  against  the  "  new  revelation "  and  the 
"  new  God,"  of  the  "  neophyte,"  the  "  shipmaster 
of  Pontus  "  ?  Evidently  he  did  not  always  see 
the  application  of  this  principle  of  tradition.  He 
does  not  agree  at  all  with  those  members  of  the 
church  at  large  who  turn  this  principle  against 
the  Montanists.  He  says,  '*  They  are  constantly 
reproaching  us  with  novelty  concerning  the  un- 
lawfulness of  which  they  lay  down  a  prescriptive 
law  that  either  it  must  be  judged  heresy,  if  it  is  a 
human  presumption,  or  else  pronounced  pseudo- 
prophecy  if  it  is  a  spiritual  declaration."  ^  This 
he  will  not  admit.  And  yet  when  he  turns  to 
answer  Marcion  he  lays  down  this  as  the  norm 

*  Dc  Jejun.,  ii.  *  De  Jejun.,     i. 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  l6l 

that  is  to  determine  what  is  right  and  what  is 
wrong :  "  Now  what  is  to  settle  the  point  for  us 
except  it  be  that  principle  of  time,  which  rules  that 
authority  lies  with  that  which  shall  be  found  to  be 
more  ancient ;  and  assumes  as  a  fundamental  truth 
that  corruption  belongs  to  the  side  which  shall 
be  convicted  of  lateness  in  origin.  For  inasmuch 
as  error  is  falsification  of  truth,  it  must  needs  be 
that  truth  therefore  preceded  error."  ^  This  is  a 
very  convenient  platform  upon  which  to  meet  one 
who  has  published  an  emendation  of  the  gospel 
narrative  in  the  interest  of  a  Pauline  Christianity. 
He  can  easily  prove  that  Marcion's  Gospel  is  a 
"  new  invention."  He  can  overthrow  his  antag- 
onist at  once,  if  the  only  test  of  truth  is  "  that 
which  shall  be  found  to  be  more  ancient." 

But  how  about  himself  ?  If  you  turn  to  another 
treatise  you  will  find  him  abandoning  this  position 
entirely,  and  taking  his  stand  upon  the  truly 
Protestant  principle  that  "  Christ  surnamed  him- 
self truth,  not  tradition."  "  It  is  not  so  much 
novelty  as  truth  which  convicts  heresies.  What- 
ever savors  of  opposition  to  truth  will  be  heresy, 
even  if  it  be  an  ancient  custom."  ^  What  finer 
declaration  will  be  found  anywhere,  in  all  the 

»  Adv.  Mar.,  IV.,  4-  ^  De  Virg.  Vel.,  i. 

L 


1 62  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

literature  of  Christian  polemics!  It  is  a  great 
pity  to  find  this  champion  of  ''  truth  "  abandon- 
ing entirely  his  lofty  platform,  and  speaking  as 
follows  to  Marcion :  "  Wherefore,  O  shipmaster 
of  Pontus,  if  you  have  never  taken  on  board  your 
small  craft  any  contraband  goods  or  smuggler's 
cargo,  if  you  have  never  thrown  overboard  or 
tampered  with  a  freight,  you  are  still  more  careful 
and  conscientious,  I  doubt  not,  in  divine  things; 
and  so  I  should  be  glad  if  you  would  inform  us 
under  what  bill  of  lading  you  admitted  the  Apostle 
Paul  on  board,  who  ticketed  him,  what  owner 
forwarded  him,  who  handed  him  to  you,  that  so 
you  may  land  him  without  any  misgiving."  ^ 
He  then  goes  on  to  show  that  Marcion,  by  reject- 
ing the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  by  denying  that 
Paul  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  receive  his  com- 
mission from  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  has  no 
foundation  whatever  upon  which  to  rest  his  belief 
in  Paul.  It  would  be  interesting  to  hear  what 
Paul  himself  would  have  to  say  about  this.  Im- 
agine some  one  asking  him  under  what  "  bill  of 
lading "  he  came  into  the  church,  and  "  who 
ticketed  him,"  and  "  what  owner  forwarded 
him !  "     Indeed,  it  would  be  very  interesting  to 

lAdv.   Mar.,  V.,    i. 


.THE    NEW    PROPHETS  163 

get  the  judgment  of  Paul  on  this  whole  move- 
ment to  form  a  closed  canon  of  revelation.  That 
very  "  liberty,"  which  was  so  dear  to  his  heart, 
has  to  be  sacrificed  entirely  in  order  to  get  him 
"  on  board  "  an  apostolic  church.  From  now  on 
we  shall  hear  much  about  how  he  crept  up  to 
Jerusalem,  in  order  to  get  permission  from  the 
apostles  to  teach  the  truth.  The  apostles  "  tick- 
eted him,"  and  so  he  had  a  right  to  proclaim  his 
message. 

In  no  other  writer  does  the  conflict  of  the  two' 
principles  of  truth  and  tradition  come  out  more 
clearly  than  in  Tertullian.  He  was  two  men — 
one  a  Catholic,  and  one  a  Montanist — and  he 
never  succeeded  in  making  the  two  live  together. 
They  could  not  live  together.  A  compact  and 
absolute  government  is  an  impossibility,  if  the 
rulers  are  to  be  constantly  subjected  to  the  checks 
of  prophecy,  and  the  Catholic  and  the  Montanist 
principles  are  as  irreconcilable  as  anarchy  and 
monarchy.  "  Whoever  thinks  his  own  way  of 
thinking  is  Catholic,"  says  Athanasius,  "  is  guilty 
of  the  folly  of  the  Montanists."  ^  They  were  the 
most  dangerous  people  the  hierarchy  had  to 
deal  with.     They  declared  that  the  church  was 

1  Socrates,  H.   E.,  II.,   36. 


164  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

*'  expelling  prophecy,"  that  it  was  "  driving  out 
the  Paraclete."  This  it  was  certainly  doing  by  its 
rejection  of  the  belief  that  an  ordinary  Christian, 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  could  give 
utterance  to  authoritative  messages  and  instruc- 
tions. Of  course  the  principle  was  susceptible  of 
great  abuse,  and  all  sorts  of  fanciful  and  fanatical 
utterances  were  attributed  to  the  inspiration  of 
the  Spirit.  All  this  was  gradually  abolished  by 
the  formation  of  a  canon.  The  conception  of  a 
classical  period  of  Christianity,  whose  height  of 
revelation  could  never  be  attained  by  any  later 
generation,  became  firmly  established  in  the 
church,  and  the  spread  of  Montanism  was 
checked.  This  period  of  revelation  was  repre- 
sented by  the  New  Testament,  and  the  only  au- 
thoritative interpretation  of  it  came  through  the 
apostolic  office  of  the  bishops.  Later  ages  might 
admire  it,  reverence  it,  look  up  to  it  as  an  ideal, 
but  might  never  think  of  actually  attaining  its 
transcendent  height  of  knowledge  and  vision.  To 
be  sure  the  constituted  representatives  of  the 
church  were  to  be  placed  on  a  level,  in  the  matter 
of  authority,  with  the  ancient  documents,  which 
they  alone  were  able  to  understand.  But  the  rank 
and    file   of   Christians    could    never   dream   of 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  165 

possessing  the  Spirit  in  the  same  measure,  or  even 
the  same  manner,  as  the  apostoHc  writers  and  the 
apostoHc  church. 

This  double  system  of  revelation  Tertullian  re- 
sisted with  all  his  might.  He  saw  that  it  was 
working  great  evil  in  lowering  the  requirements 
made  upon  the  average  Christian  in  the  matter 
of  conduct.  He  insisted  upon  seeing  the  "  vir- 
ginity of  the  church  "  in  the  fact  that  it  was  a  holy 
community,  banded  together  for  the  realization 
of  a  life  of  purity.  As  soon  as  men  ceased  to  feel 
that  they  were  under  the  direct  guidance  of  the 
Spirit  they  abandoned  that  high  moral  standard 
that  had  come  down  from  the  earlier  times,  and 
that  had  been  purified  in  the  fires  of  martyrdom. 
In  resisting  this  tendency  toward  a  secularization 
of  the  church,  the  Montanists  were  fighting  a  los- 
ing battle.  In  ages  of  persecution,  like  that  under 
Marcus  Aurelius,  they  flourished;  but  as  soon  as 
events  became  more  quiet,  and  Christians  sought 
to  live  more  comfortably,  and  the  church  began 
to  conform  to  the  ways  of  the  world,  every  efTort 
was  put  forth  to  get  rid  of  these  inconvenient 
Puritans. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  we  know  so  little  of  the 
movement.      Its   earlier   history   is   shrouded   in 


l66  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

darkness.  We  only  see  it  plainly,  and  have  rec- 
ords of  it  that  are  authentic,  in  its  Western 
manifestations,  where  its  edge  is  dulled  and  its 
enthusiasm  deadened.  In  coming  West  it  did 
not  endeavor  to  form  a  new  organization,  but  ac- 
cepted the  conditions  found  in  the  church.  We 
have  records  of  partial,  and  even  whole  communi- 
ties, that  went  over  to  the  new  prophets,  and  yet 
retained  their  connection  with  the  church  at  large. 
The  growing  belief  in  a  closed  period  of  revela- 
tion, which  the  Montanists  were  compelled  to 
accept,  was  most  deadly  to  their  fundamental  con- 
ception. We  have  already  seen  in  Tertullian  the 
strange  contradiction  introduced  into  his  system 
by  his  acceptance  of  the  idea  of  a  New  Testa- 
ment, and  by  his  adherence  to  the  "  new  proph- 
ets." Such  a  contradiction  cannot  long  stand. 
Consistency  may  be  the  "  hobgoblin  "  of  petty 
minds,  but  the  world  will  strive  for  it,  and  no 
man  can  long  continue  to  say  in  the  same  breath 
that  the  Spirit  no  longer  inspires  men,  and  yet 
that  it  does. 

If  the  Montanists  had  been  able  to  fight  out  the 
battle  on  the  moral  issue  alone,  they  might  have 
won.  The  lofty  purity  of  their  conduct,  the  stern 
demands  they  made  upon  their  followers,  and  the 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  167 

joy  they  manifested  in  martyrdom,  raised  them 
far  above  the  members  of  the  church  at  large.  In 
this  respect  they  were  more  "  apostoHc  "  than  the 
apostohc  church.  But  that  word  "  apostohc  "  was 
coming  to  have  Httle  to  do  with  conduct.  Other 
issues  come  into  the  conflict.  The  "  virginity  of 
the  church,"  of  which  so  much  had  been  said  in 
former  times,  was  coming  to  be  looked  upon  as 
the  holding  of  a  deposit  of  pure  doctrine.  The 
mother  church,  that  had  hitherto  protected  her 
children  so  earnestly  from  immoralities,  was  here- 
after to  protect  them  fanatically  from  heresies. 
The  insistence  upon  the  creed  of  the  apostles,  and 
the  effort  to  make  them  a  publishing-house,  whose 
mission  was  to  issue  a  closed  volume  of  authori- 
tative writings,  was  the  death  sentence  of  the 
Montanist  movement. 

To  be  sure  we  cannot  say  with  any  degree  of 
probability  that  the  Montanists  were  the  cause 
of  the  formation  of  a  canon.  In  fact,  the  move- 
ment was  more  the  effect  of  that  secularization 
of  the  church,  of  which  the  formation  of  a  canon 
was  merely  a  part.  The  conception  that  "  the 
church  is  the  Spirit,"  and  that  wherever  spiritual 
manifestations  are  found  there  is  a  church,  is 
utterly   incompatible   with   a   definite   and   fixed 


1 68  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

organization,  whose  representatives  are  seeking  a 
foothold  in  every  sphere  of  social  and  political 
activity.  In  every  way  Montanism  was  in  direct 
antagonism  to  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Its  demo- 
cratic spirit  was  hostile  to  the  centralization  of 
power  in  the  episcopate;  its  conception  that  the 
virginity  of  the  church  consisted  in  purity  of  deed, 
rather  than  purity  of  dogma,  was  a  challenge  to 
the  speculative  and  metaphysical  spirit;  and  its  be- 
lief in  the  continuance  of  prophecy  could  not  pos- 
sibly live  in  peace  with  the  effort  to  close  the 
period  of  revelation,  and  "  seal  up  the  book." 
Despite  the  vagaries  of  the  movement,  its  founda- 
tion principle  that  "  Christ  surnamed  himself 
truth,  not  tradition,"  and  that  the  appeal  to  the 
age  of  the  apostles  for  anything  but  a  spiritual 
ideal  of  life  was  setting  "  boundary -posts  to 
God,"  marks  the  high  tide  of  second  century 
Christianity. 

If  this  position  could  have  been  taken  ration- 
ally instead  of  hysterically,  and  could  have  been 
held  back  from  the  extremes  of  a  weird  and  gro- 
tesque mysticism,  it  would  have  been  the  highest 
conception  of  authority  ever  held  in  the  Chris- 
tian church  since  the  days  of  Paul.  But  wherever 
the  fires  of  Montanism  cooled  down,  and  more 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  169 

rational  leaders  emphasized  the  moral  life  as  a 
manifestation  of  the  Spirit,  there  its  followers 
could  hardly  resist  the  strong  tide  toward  a  Cath- 
olic Christianity.  The  very  fact  that  they  ad- 
mitted that  their  ideal  was  that  of  the  apostolic 
age  raised  the  question  as  to  just  what  documents 
contained  that  ideal.  The  historical  question 
crept  in  under  cover  of  a  great  spiritual  purpose, 
and  when  once  it  was  in,  it  proceeded  to  become 
dominant  over  everything,  and  to  "  quench  the 
Spirit."  The  Montanists  were  really  striving  to 
build  up  a  "  New  Testament  church,"  and  that  is 
why  they  resisted  so  strongly  the  effort  to  form 
a  New  Testament. 

It  was  all  in  vain  that  the  Montanist  mourned 
the  degeneracy  of  the  times  and  exhorted  men  to 
return  to  the  high  standard  of  the  apostolic  age. 
His  Catholic  opponent  simply  answered  that  men 
would  only  return  to  that  standard  when  they  held 
the  doctrines  of  the  apostolic  age.  The  belief 
that  the  spiritual  life  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  meta- 
physical system  was  used  as  a  bludgeon  to  subdue 
all  independent  thought.  To  the  Montanist  the 
whole  thing  seemed  simple  enough.  He  preferred 
to  be  "  less  wise  in  Scripture,"  rather  than  to  enter 
upon  a  refining  exegesis,  while  making  a  moral 


170  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

compromise  with  the  forces  of  evil.  He  beheved 
that  in  all  essential  things  there  was  a  ''  common 
agreement  among  apostles."  The  Christian  ideal 
was  so  plain  that  the  simplest  mind  could  appre- 
hend it.  If  anything  said  by  John  was  "  flatly 
contradicted  by  Paul,"  that  thing  could  not  be  a 
matter  of  very  great  consequence.  The  kind  of  a 
life  demanded  of  a  Christian  was  one  about  which 
there  could  be  very  little  difference  of  opinion. 
It  was  written  large  in  the  ancient  documents. 
These  men  who  know  so  much  about  Scripture, 
and  who  find  such  mysterious  things  in  numbers 
and  prepositions,  are  the  very  last  of  all  Chris- 
tians to  go  to  martyrdom  with  courage  and 
cheerfulness.  Indeed,  do  not  some  of  them,  like 
Heracleon,  say  that  martyrdom  is  unnecessary? 
Evidently,  while  seeking  to  become  ''  wise  in  the 
Scripture,"  they  have  become  "  wise  against  it." 
All  this  was  good,  sound  reasoning  in  ages  of 
persecution.  But  when  the  times  became  more 
quiet,  and  the  church  resumed  her  temporary  task 
of  conquering  thrones  and  kingdoms,  it  was  found 
that  a  more  compromising  principle  was  neces- 
sary. Energies  that  in  times  of  danger  manifest 
themselves  in  deeds  of  moral  heroism  are  more 
likely  to  be  drained  off  in  speculation  in  quiet 


THE    NEW    PROPHETS  I7I 

periods.  The  Montanist  definition  that  ''  the 
church  is  the  Spirit  "  will  then  be  supplanted  by 
the  conception  that  the  church  is  the  organization 
that  holds  the  true  doctrine.  Besides  all  this,  men 
who  are  in  perfect  agreement  under  persecution, 
and  who  then  manifest  remarkable  solidarity,  are 
often  the  first  to  separate  when  danger  departs. 
The  mystics  are  proverbially  insubordinate.  For 
this  very  reason,  no  doubt,  the  Montanists  greatly 
accelerated  that  very  consolidation  and  seculariza- 
tion of  the  church  which  they  resisted,  and  by 
the  disintegrating  influences  of  their  ''  new  proph- 
ecies "  helped  to  hasten  that  time  when  the  epoch 
of  revelation  should  be  forever  closed,  and  there 
should  be  formed  a  "  canon  of  the  books  of  the 
New  Dispensation." 


VIII 
THE  CATHOLIC  FATHERS 


VIII 

WE  lay  it  down  as  our  first  position,"  says 
Tertullian,  "  that  the  Evangehcal  Tes- 
tament (Evangelium  Instrumentum)  has  apostles 
for  its  authors,  to  whom  was  assigned  by  the 
Lord  himself  this  office  of  publishing  the  gos- 
pel." ^  This  claim  that  Christ  gave  to  certain 
men  the  exclusive  right  to  publish  the  written 
gospel,  was  put  forth  for  the  first  time  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  second  century.  The  apostles 
were  the  legal  and  constituted  "  authors  "  of  the 
Christian  revelation.  They  had  been  commis- 
sioned by  Christ  for  this  work.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  Luke  and  Mark  did  not  belong  to  the 
Twelve,  and  in  view  of  the  further  fact  that  the 
word  "  apostle  "  had  had  such  a  wide  significance, 
being  still  applied  in  Alexandria  to  the  seventy 
and  to  men  like  Barnabas  and  Clement  of  Rome, 
the  church  had  no  easy  task  before  her  in  her 
effort  to  form  an  apostolic  New  Testament. 

One  of  the  first  steps  in  this  process  was  to  limit 
the  word  "  apostle  "  to  one  of  the  Twelve.   From 

lAdv.  Mar.,  IV.,  2. 


176  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

now  on  this  is  done  in  Rome,  and  wherever  the 
monarchical  episcopate  is  becoming  more  central- 
ized. Then  too,  this  little  group  of  twelve,  as  we 
have  seen  above  in  Tertullian,  are  now  looked 
upon  as  "  authors,"  upon  whose  writings  there  is  a 
copyright,  which  belongs  to  their  heirs.  "I  am  the 
heir  of  the  apostles,"  ^  is  the  confident  declara- 
tion. Who  is  this  "  I  "  ?  Manifestly  the  organi- 
zation centering  in  the  office  of  the  bishops.  The 
sum  total  of  the  books  written  by  the  apostles, 
when  the  number  can  be  determined,  is  the  sum 
total  of  the  apostolic  teaching,  and  the  content 
of  the  canon.  But  who  is  to  determine  what 
books  were  written  by  the  apostles?  Again  the 
dictatorial  "  I  "  comes  in.  Only  the  heirs  have  a 
right  to  determine  what  the  ultimate  and  authori- 
tative edition  shall  contain.  With  this  edition 
the  measure  of  revealed  truth  will  be  filled  up. 
Whatsoever  cannot  be  found  in  the  canon  will  be 
pronounced  to  be  "  something  beyond  the  truth."  ^ 
The  work  of  Tertullian  on  "  The  Prescription 
of  Heretics,"  contains  a  luminous  passage,  re- 
vealing the  forces  at  work  in  the  church  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  century.  "  Since  you 
are  close  upon  Italy,"  he  says,  "  you  have  Rome, 

*  Tert.,  De  Praescr.,  37,  *  Iren.,  V.,  20,  2. 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  1 77 

from  which  there  comes  into  our  own  hands 
the  very  authority  (of  apostles  themselves). 
How  happy  is  its  church  on  which  apostles 
poured  forth  all  their  doctrine  along  with  their 
blood!  where  Peter  endures  a  passion  like  his 
Lord's!  where  Paul  wins  a  crown  in  a  death 
like  John's!  where  the  Apostle  John  was  first 
plunged  unhurt  into  burning  oil,  and  thence  re- 
mitted to  his  island  exile!  See  what  she  has 
learned,  what  taught,  what  fellowship  she  has 
had  even  with  churches  in  Africa.  One  God 
does  she  acknowledge,  the  creator  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  Christ  Jesus,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
the  Son  of  God  the  creator,  and  the  resurrection 
of  the  flesh;  the  law  and  the  prophets  she  unites 
in  one  volume,  with  the  writings  of  evangelists 
and  apostles,  from  which  she  drinks  her  faith."  ^ 
How  much  is  contained  in  these  words!  Upon 
Rome  the  apostles  have  "  poured  forth  all  their 
doctrine."  Rome  is  beginning  to  make  herself 
felt  even  among  "  churches  in  Africa."  Rome 
is  said  to  be  binding  up  the  Christian  writings 
into  one  volume  with  the  law  and  the  prophets. 
Rome  announces  to  the  world  that  she  "  acknowl- 
edges "  one  God,  the  Father,  and  Jesus  Christ, 

*  De  Praescr.,  36. 

M  .    . 


178  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

his  Son,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  flesh,  and  other  doctrines.  In  this 
httle  passage  we  have  the  acorn  from  which  grew 
the  great  Roman  oak.  The  centraHzation  of  the 
episcopate,  the  formation  of  a  canon,  and  the  in- 
cipient stages  of  an  "apostles'  creed,"  are  all  here. 
Take  another  passage.  Tertullian  refuses  to 
enter  into  any  dispute  with  the  heretics  in  regard 
to  what  books  are  authoritative.  Despite  the  fact 
that  Valentinus  came  near  being  elected  bishop 
of  Rome,  and  despite  the  fact  that  his  followers 
are  generally  in  good  standing  in  the  churches, 
they  are  not  allowed  to  express  any  opinion  in 
regard  to  what  books  shall  be  placed  in  the  canon. 
Why  ?  The  answer  is  simple.  "  Not  being  Chris- 
tians, they  have  acquired  no  right  to  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures.  It  may  be  very  fairly  said  to 
them,  *  Who  are  you  ?  When  and  whence  did  you 
come  ?  As  you  are  none  of  mine,  what  have  you 
to  do  with  that  which  is  mine?  Indeed,  Marcion, 
by  what  right  do  you  hew  my  wood?  By  whose 
permission,  Valentinus,  are  you  diverting  the 
streams  of  my  fountain  ?  By  what  power,  Apel- 
les,  are  you  removing  my  landmarks?  This  is 
my  property.  I  have  long  possessed  it.  I  pos- 
sessed it  before  you.    I  hold  sure  title-deeds  from 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  1 79 

the  original  owners  themselves,  to  whom  the 
estate  belonged.  I  am  the  heir  of  the  apostles. 
Just  as  they  carefully  prepared  their  last  will 
and  testament  and  committed  it  as  a  trust,  even 
so  do  I  hold  it.'  "  ^  The  one  thing  prominent  is 
the  dictatorial  ''  I."  This  book  is  '*  mine."  You 
are  trespassing  on  "  my  "  property.  You  are  di- 
verting "  my  "  streams,  removing  *'  rtly  "  land- 
marks. I  have  long  possessed  this  book.  It  is 
hardly  a  good  answer  to  the  commentaries  pre- 
pared so  carefully  by  men  like  Heracleon,  Valen- 
tinus,  and  Ptolemaeus,  to  order  them  off  the 
ground.  But  before  Origen  can  undertake  to 
answer  these  commentaries  the  church  must  get 
possession  of  the  books.  The  first  stage,  there- 
fore, is  one  of  simple  denunciation.  The  here- 
tics are  ordered  off  the  premises.  The  church 
does  not  deny,  what  the  heretics  have  already 
taken  for  granted,  that  the  apostles  have  left  an 
authoritative  New  Testament ;  she  simply  asserts 
that  she  is  the  "  heir  of  the  apostles." 

This  conception  of  a  canon  is  very  sudden  in 
its  appearance  among  orthodox  writers.  We 
look  in  vain  through  all  previous  Christian  litera- 
ture for  statements  like  those  just  quoted  from 

*  De  Praescr.,  37. 


l80  lOI^M  A  I  l(»N     ()\>      NI';W      I  I.SIAMI'.N'I" 

Tci  liilli.iii.  rii.il  (lie  ;iiK)stlcs  "carefully  prc- 
iciicd  llicir  l.isl  will  ;iii(l  Icslanicnl,"  .'ind  coiii- 
iiiiMcd  il  lo  llic  clmrcli  as  a  "  Inisl,"  is  a  llioitf^lit 
lli.il  never  occurred  lo  any  one  lu^forc  llic  cli.ini- 
|)ions  of  llic  (  lnn(  Il  hcj^an  lo  allack  llie  Gnostics 
;ind  Marcion.  'rertiillian  never  tires  of  repeat- 
in;;  lli.d  llic  doclrincs  of  llic  licrclics  were  all  an- 
li(il)alc(|  ill  ihc  .ipostolic  vviilin^^s,  and  condemned 
hcforc  llicy  were  iillcrc(l.  "  The  aposlle,"  lie  says 
in  one  pl.icc,  "  i(|)rol);iles  likewise  such  as  hid  lo 
.ihsl.'iin  fioiii  meals;  hit!  he  does  so  from  the 
foresijdil  o|  ihc  Holy  S|)iiil,  |)recon(lemnin^  al- 
rea<ly  Ih''  lieidits  who  vvonld  enjoin  j)erpetnal 
.'ihslincncc  lo  llic  cxlcnl  of  deslroyin^  and  despis- 
ing" ihc  vvoiks  of  Ihc  (Vc.ilor;  snch  as  1  in;iy  find 
in  llic  pel', on  of  a  M.ircion,  or  a  Talian."  ' 
I  Icncc  il  is,"  he  says  in  anolher  place,  "  ihal  Ihe 
1  loly  Spiril,  in  his  ^realness,  foreseeing  clearly  all 
snch  inlcrpiclalions  as  these,  siif^jj^esls  in  this 
I'pisllc  lo  ihe  Thessalonians,"  etc.''  The  Ihon^ht 
ihal  c\'cry  (|iieslion  of  ('hrislian  doclrine  is  con- 
laiiicd  in  ihe  sa(M-c(l  wrilin^^s,  Ihal  no  apperd  can 
he  made  from  lliem  lo  any  more  recent  li^ht  or 
revelalicm,  and  ihal  all  controversies  were  fore- 
seen   hy    llic    vvriliTS   and    setlled    lu-forehand    by 

'  I 'r    Jrjim..     i '■,.  '  1  »r     Krs.    (in.,    j^. 


Tflf-:    CAIIIOLK      l-ATIlIiRS  iRl 

sonic  mystical  ov  allegorical  iiiij)licatioii,  is  now 
found  for  the  first  time  in  Christian  writers.  The 
kind  of  interpretati(jn  that  now  prevails  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  fcjllowing-  argument  by  Tertul- 
lian:  '*  The  Holy  Spirit,  willing  that  there  should 
be  no  distinction,  willed  that  by  the  one  name  of 
zvonian  should  likewise  be  understood  the  virgin; 
whom,  by  not  specially  naming,  he  has  not  sep- 
arated from  the  w<jman,  and,  by  not  separating, 
has  conjoined  to  her  from  wIkjiu  he  has  not 
separated  her."  '  This  exegetical  contortion 
is  used  to  ])rove  that  the  divine  author  of  Scri])- 
ture  was  not  only  a  Catholic,  but  a  Montanist. 
How  common,  in  all  after  literal nrc,  this  absurd 
method  of  reading  doctrines  into  scri])tural  pas- 
sages is  to  become!  It  became  necessary  just  as 
soon  as  the  idea  of  a  canon  entered  the  church, 
and  the  books  from  being  free  and  natural  ex- 
pressions of  the  religious  life,  became  the  deposi- 
tory of  all  truth  and  doctrine. 

The  kind  of  argument  necessary  to  get  the 
documents  r)f  early  Christianity  into  the  hands 
of  the  Catholic  Church  is  well  illustrated  by  Tcr- 
tullian,  when  he  says  that  the  '*  authority  o^  the 
apostolic  churches  "  supports  the  other  Gospels, 

'  I)c  VirK.   Vcl.,  4. 


1 82  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

besides  Luke,  and  that  Marcion  ought  to  be 
brought  to  account  for  rejecting  them.  Indeed, 
he  says,  "It  is  even  more  credible  that  they 
existed  from  the  very  beginning;  for,  being  the 
work  of  apostles,  they  were  prior  and  coeval  in 
origin  with  the  churches  themselves."  ^  He  thus 
makes  the  churches  sponsors  for  the  Gospels,  and 
the  Gospels  the  foundation  of  the  churches. 
This  question  of  priority  has  always  been  an  in- 
convenient one  to  the  Catholic  Church.  Like 
the  old  problem  whether  the  hen  came  before  the 
tgg,  or  the  egg  before  the  hen,  it  always  raises 
a  second  and  unanswerable  question.  When  the 
advocate  of  the  Hindu  cosmogony  was  driven 
back  from  the  elephant  to  the  tortoise,  and  then 
was  asked  upon  what  the  tortoise  rested,  he  re- 
plied that  it  was  "  tortoise  all  the  way  down." 
So  the  authority  of  the  hierarchy  rests  upon  an 
ultimate  dogmatic  assertion,  that  is  Catholic  "  all 
the  way  down." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  witnesses  to  the 
growth  of  the  conception  of  a  canon  is  Irenaeus, 
who  became  bishop  of  Lyons,  in  Gaul,  about  the 
year  a.  d.  177.  He  prided  himself  on  the  fact 
that  in  his  very  early  years  he  had  been  a  pupil 

»  Adv.  Mar.,  IV.,  5- 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  183 

of  Polycarp,  in  Asia,  who  had  in  turn  been  a 
pupil  of  the  Apostle  John.  "  What  I  heard  from 
him,"  he  says  to  Florinus,  "  that  wrote  I  not  on 
paper,  but  in  my  heart,  and  by  the  grace  of  God, 
I  constantly  bring  it  fresh  to  my  mind."  He  puts 
little  trust,  however,  in  oral  tradition.  He  ex- 
actly reverses  the  estimation  of  Papias,  and  re- 
gards the  written  documents  as  far  more  trust- 
worthy than  any  report  handed  down  by  word  of 
mouth.  *^  We  have  learned  from  none  others," 
he  declares,  "  than  from  those  through  whom  the 
gospel  has  come  down  to  us,  which  they  did  at 
one  time  proclaim  in  public,  and  at  a  later  period, 
by  the  will  of  God,  handed  down  to  us  in  the 
Scriptures,  to  be  the  ground  and  pillar  of  our 
faith."  ^  The  two  sources  of  authority  are  here 
blended  in  their  usual  manner.  Irenaeus  can 
boast  of  his  connection  with  the  apostles,  and  so 
he  does  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  the  Scriptures 
are  the  "  ground  and  pillar  "  of  the  Christian's 
faith.  He  will  not  permit  the  Gnostics,  however, 
to  have  anything  to  say  as  to  what  books  are 
apostolic.  They  have  no  right  to  the  Christian 
books.  John  would  not  argue  with  Cerinthus, 
nor  would  Polycarp  consent  to  dispute  with 
1  III.,  I,  I. 


184  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Marcion.  The  whole  matter  must  be  settled  by 
a  dictum.  **  It  is  incumbent  to  obey  the  presby- 
ters, who  are  in  the  church — those  who  possess 
the  succession  from  the  apostles,  and  have  re- 
ceived genuine  gifts  of  truth.  But  the  heretics, 
indeed,  who  bring  strange  fire  to  the  altar  of  God, 
namely,  strange  doctrines,  shall  be  burned  up 
by  the  fire  from  heaven,  as  were  Nadab  and 
Abihu."  ' 

By  such  methods  as  these  the  bishops  managed 
to  get  the  reins  of  authority  into  their  own  hands, 
as  a  first  step  in  the  direction  of  the  formation 
of  a  canon.  Some  one  must  have  the  legal  right 
to  give  to  the  world  a  definite  statement  of  what 
books  are  genuine,  and  who  has  this  right,  if  not 
the  ordained  successors  of  the  apostles  ?  The  man 
who  ties  himself  to  the  organization  is  safe. 
"  Then  shall  every  word  also  be  fixed  for  him,  if 
he  for  his  part  read  the  Scriptures  in  company 
with  those  who  are  presbyters  in  the  church, 
among  whom  is  the  apostolic  doctrine,  as  I  have 
pointed  out."  ^  Thus  was  begun  in  the  world  that 
thought-saving  device  of  ecclesiasticism,  by  which 
men  are  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  doing 
their  own  thinking,  because  every  word  of  the 

'  IV.,  26,    I.  2  IV.,   32,    I. 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  185 

Scriptures  is  "  fixed  for  them  "  by  the  constituted 
authorities,  who  possess  the  "  apostoHc  doctrine." 
How  clearly  does  the  motive  that  led  to  the 
formation  of  a  canon  shine  forth  here ! 

And  what  arguments  are  advanced  to  fix  the 
number  of  the  books?  Take  an  example.  We 
are  told  that  it  is  not  possible  that  the  Gospels 
should  be  more  or  fewer  in  number  than  four, 
''  since  there  are  four  zones  of  the  world  in  which 
we  live,  and  four  principal  winds,  while  the 
church  is  scattered  throughout  all  the  world,  and 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  church  is  the  gospel." 
"  Then  too,  the  cherubim  were  four-faced,  and 
their  faces  were  images  of  the  dispensation  of  the 
Son  of  God."  "  The  living  creatures  too  (of  the 
Apocalypse)  were  fourfold."  "  For  this  reason 
four  principal  covenants  were  given  to  the  human 
race."  ^  One  might  almost  fancy  that  he  was 
reading  an  excursus  by  Philo  Judseus  on  some 
sacred  number.  By  such  arguments  he  proved 
that  all  the  doctrines  of  his  favorite  Greek  phi- 
losopher were  anticipated  by  Moses.  From  now 
on  this  method  will  be  increasingly  applied  to  the 
Christian  documents.  In  the  very  chapter  in 
which  Irenseus  gives  us  the  reasons  why  there 

iin.,  II,  8. 


l86  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

can  be  but  four  Gospels,  he  finds  the  whole  mes- 
sage of  Christ  in  a  mystic  symbol  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. Evidently  he  has  forgotten  how  in  a 
previous  book  he  ridiculed  the  tendency  of  the 
Gnostics  to  support  their  views  by  twisting  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  just  as  if  the  words  had  been 
composed  "  with  reference  to  the  subject  indi- 
cated." ' 

The  fact  is,  the  church  could  only  get  rid 
of  the  Gnostics  by  adopting  their  weapons. 
Irenseus  is  himself  genuinely  Gnostic,  when,  in 
opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  a  heavenly  ^on 
Christ,  and  a  man  Jesus,  he  appeals  to  the  ex- 
pression of  Paul,  "  one  Christ  Jesus."  ^  His 
whole  argument  hinges  on  the  little  word  "  one." 
Paul  foresaw  that  some  day  certain  corrupters 
of  the  truth  would  try  to  make  two  men  out  of 
Christ,  and  so  he  used  the  word  "  one."  Mat- 
thew also  provided  for  just  such  an  emergency. 
He  "  might  certainly  have  said,  *  Now  the  birth 
of  Jesus  was  on  this  wise,'  but  the  Holy  Ghost, 
foreseeing  the  corrupters  (of  truth),  and  guard- 
ing by  anticipation  against  their  deceit,  says  by 
Matthew,  '  But  the  birth  of  Christ  was  on  this 
wise.'  "  ^    This  fact  definitely  proves  that  it  was 

»I..    9,   4.  2  III.,    16,    9.  "iii.^    16,   2. 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  1 87 

Christ  himself,  and  not  the  man  Jesus,  who  was 
born  of  Mary.  He  spends  five  chapters  discuss- 
ing the  meaning  of  Paul's  words,  "  Flesh  and 
blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God."  ^ 
Such  a  use  of  the  Epistles  is  absolutely  unheard 
of  in  previous  Christian  history.  Indeed  it  can 
be  said  that  Irenaeus  is  the  first  Christian  writer, 
aside  from  the  Gnostics,  to  use  the  Epistles  as 
Scripture.  He  says  of  Paul,  that  "  foreseeing 
through  the  Spirit  the  subdivisions  of  evil  teach- 
ers, and  being  desirous  of  cutting  away  from  them 
all  occasion  of  cavil,"  he  used  a  certain  expres- 
sion in  Romans.^  He  introduces  a  quotation  from 
Second  Corinthians  with  the  phrase,  "  for  the 
word  says."  ^  He  sees  in  the  phrase  of  Paul, 
"  as  lights  in  the  world,"  a  mystical  reference  to 
the  fact  that  the  seed  of  Abraham  should  be  "  as 
stars  in  the  heaven,"  saying  that  "  this  is  what 
Paul  meant,  when  he  wrote  it."  *  Examples 
might  be  multiplied  without  end  of  this  new  use 
of  the  Epistles.  The  literature  of  the  heart  is  now 
becoming  the  weapon  of  dogmatics.  The  simple 
and  personal  message,  directed  to  the  end  of 
spiritual  inspiration  and  the  upbuilding  of  char- 
acter, is  looked  upon  as  a  treasure-house  of  proof- 
ly.,  9,  14.         ^'Hi.,  16,  9.         "v.,  3,  I.         *iv.,  s,  3. 


1 88  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

texts  for  the  backing  up  of  metaphysical  theo- 
ries— the  arsenal  from  which  the  contending 
theological  schools  can  snatch  their  weapons. 
From  Irenseus  to  Origen  we  can  trace  a  gradual 
development  of  this  tendency,  which  began  with 
the  Gnostics  and  will  never  end  until  the  Scrip- 
tures become  the  inspired  literature  of  the  heart 
once  more. 

Irenseus  even  tries  to  tell  us  the  order  in  which 
the  four  Gospels  were  written.  "  Matthew,"  he 
says,  "  issued  a  written  Gospel  among  the  He- 
brews in  their  own  language,  while  Peter  and 
Paul  were  preaching  at  Rome,  and  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  church.  After  their  departure 
Mark,  the  disciple  and  interpreter  of  Peter,  did 
also  hand  down  to  us  in  writing  what  had  been 
preached  by  Peter.  Luke  also,  the  companion  of 
Paul,  recorded  in  a  book  the  gospel  preached  by 
him.  Afterward  John,  the  disciple  of  the  Lord, 
who  also  had  leaned  upon  his  breast,  did  himself 
publish  a  Gospel,  during  his  residence  at  Ephesus 
in  Asia."  ^  Here  is  an  effort  to  place  on  firmer 
historical  foundation  those  documents  which  had 
been  known  to  Justin  simply  as  the  "  memoirs  of 
the  apostles."     The  question  of  authorship  had 

MIL,  I,  1. 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  1 89 

not  been  considered  an  absorbing  one  heretofore. 
The  Gospel  of  Peter,  the  Gospel  according  to 
the  Egyptians,  the  Gospel  according  to  the  He- 
brews, and  many  other  gospels,  were  in  circula- 
tion in  different  parts  of  the  church,  all  of  them 
agreeing  in  the  main  particulars.  Manifestly,  if 
the  test  of  canonicity  were  to  be  established  as 
apostolic  authorship,  the  Gospel  of  Peter  would 
stand  higher  than  the  Gospel  of  Luke. 

The  task  before  the  church  was  no  easy  one. 
We  can  hardly  say,  after  reading  a  few  chapters 
in  Irenaeus  and  Tertullian,  that  the  question  was 
finally  settled  by  a  long  and  careful  process  of  in- 
vestigation, that  entered  critically  into  the  claims 
of  the  different  books,  and  at  last  reached  an  im- 
partial and  judicial  conclusion.  The  whole  mat- 
ter was  settled  by  the  dictatorial  "I."  It  was  a 
fiat,  and  not  an  investigation,  that  gave  to  the 
world  the  final  decision.  As  Luther  said  of  the 
cardinal  legate,  who  came  to  meet  him  at  Augs- 
burg, "  He  was  come  to  command,  not  to  argue." 
Had  we  the  works  of  heretical  writers  of  the 
second  century  in  our  possession  we  might  fre- 
quently find  this  expression  of  surprise  in  their 
writings  too.  The  church  that  issued  the  fiat  had 
not  the  strength  in  the  second  century  which  it 


190  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

had  in  the  sixteenth,  or  else  the  question  of  the 
canon  might  have  been  settled  much  sooner.  But 
the  command  went  forth :  "  And  therefore  it 
was  said  to  Daniel  the  prophet,  '  Shut  up  the 
words  and  seal  the  book  even  to  the  time  of 
consummation,  until  many  learn  and  knowledge 
be  completed.'  "  ^ 

The  importance  of  this  decision  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. We  are  here  at  the  crossroads  of 
early  Christianity.  That  everything  not  con- 
tained in  the  book  is  *'  something  beyond  the 
truth,"  is  a  conception  that  is  to  have  a  long  and 
fateful  history.  Before  this  theory  the  individ- 
ualities of  the  writers  vanish,  the  historical  per- 
spective disappears,  the  naturalness  of  inspira- 
tion is  lost,  and  revelation  becomes  something 
apart  from  life.  An  adjective  is  made  to  contain, 
by  implication,  an  entire  metaphysic.  Chris- 
tianity is  buried  in  history,  and  when  the  drama 
of  the  first  century  is  explained  he  who  under- 
stands and  accepts  is  saved.  Redemption  is  a 
mental  process,  with  its  seat  in  the  understanding. 
Men  must  find  the  esoteric  truth,  contained  in 
the  Bible  as  an  allegory,  before  they  can  be  lifted 
into  likeness  to  God.     The  "  ground  and  pillar 

^  Irenaeus,  IV.,  26,  i. 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  I9I 

of  our  faith  "  is  no  longer  "  the  witness  of  God 
with  our  spirit,  testifying  that  we  are  sons  of 
God,"  but  is  the  story  of  something  that  happened 
in  the  age  of  the  apostles,  and  was  faithfully  re- 
corded by  them.  To  defend  this  story  as  an 
actual  historical  occurrence  now  became  the  great 
labor  of  Christianity,  and  the  "  defender  of  the 
faith  "  was  no  longer  the  martyr,  who  witnessed 
to  its  reality  by  his  life,  but  the  philosopher,  who 
proved  its  dogmas  from  the  documents.  Infi- 
delity ceased  to  be  lack  of  faithfulness  in  conduct, 
the  absence  of  charity,  of  compassion,  of  gen- 
tleness, of  generosity,  of  brotherly-kindness,  and 
became  doubt  of  the  historical  accuracy  of  cer- 
tain statements  made  in  the  New  Testament.  So 
strong  was  the  emphasis  laid  by  the  early  church 
upon  life,  and  upon  the  acceptance  of  Christianity 
as  a  personal  message,  that  some  Christians  "  in 
good  and  regular  standing "  rejected  the  Gos- 
pel of  John  entirely  without  being  disciplined, 
and  others,  remarkable  for  their  purity  of  life, 
declared  that  only  a  modified  form  of  Luke  had 
any  historical  basis  of  fact.  From  now  on  the 
emphasis  was  shifted,  and  all  Christians  were 
required  to  accept  the  finality  of  the  apostolic 
documents,  while  fewer  questions  were  asked  as 


192  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

to  whether  they  attended  the  gladiatorial  shows, 
or  abstained  from  the  revelries  of  the  public 
festivals. 

Moreover,  the  documents  had  to  be  read  "  in 
company  with  the  presbyters,"  and  the  system  of 
thought  accepted  by  the  authorities  had  to  be 
found  therein.  The  average  Christian  could  not 
be  trusted  to  discover  for  himself  the  esoteric 
mysteries  of  redemption.  The  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity was  soon  to  be  fixed  in  a  creed,  put  forth 
by  those  in  authority,  and  faith  would  thereafter 
consist  in  the  intellectual  acceptance  of  this  creed, 
despite  the  incomprehensible  mysteries  involved 
in  it.  In  this  way  Paul's  marvelous  conception 
of  faith,  as  that  spiritual  communion  with  God 
by  which  a  transformed  nature  begins  to  put 
forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  was  supplanted  by 
the  purely  formal  acceptance  of  a  stereotyped 
statement,  and  the  man  who  "  kept  the  faith  " 
was  no  longer  the  one  who  followed  the  inner 
guidance  of  the  Infinite,  but  the  one  who  held 
on  most  consistently  to  an  outer  dogmatic 
statement. 

One  curious  transformation  is  to  be  noticed 
in  this  process.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
early  church  valued  the  utterances  of  Christian 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  I93 

prophets  more  highly  than  any  document,  and 
that  the  estimate  of  Papias  of  the  spoken  above 
the  written  word  was  then  very  common.  The  first 
step  in  the  formation  of  a  canon  was  the  exact 
reversal  of  this  estimate,  and  the  complete  subor- 
dination of  all  sources  of  authority  to  the  docu- 
ments. Then  there  came  a  second  step,  by  which 
the  two  were  reversed  once  more,  and  the  utter- 
ances of  the  constituted  successors  of  the  apostles, 
of  the  officers  of  the  hierarchy,  came  to  have  more 
weight  than  the  Book  itself.  Protestantism,  in  its 
efforts  to  get  back  to  the  Christianity  of  the  apos- 
tolic age,  has  generally  returned  to  the  first  of 
these  two  steps,  and  there  has  stopped.  It  has 
taken  from  the  Catholic  Church  the  conception 
of  an  apostolic  New  Testament,  but  has  rejected 
the  apostolic  authority  of  the  bishops,  by  which 
the  New  Testament  was  closed.  Instead  of  em- 
phasizing the  direct  witness  of  God,  and  the  im- 
pact of  the  divine  life  on  the  human  soul,  above 
all  records  of  past  revelation,  it  has  made  the 
New  Testament  so  supreme  in  its  authority  that 
God  has  been  imbedded  in  documents  of  the 
first  century,  and  many  keen  minds,  like  that  of 
Cardinal  Newman,  have  turned  to  the  Catholic 
Church  in  order  to  find  a  real  and  present-day 

N 


194  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

authority.  Here,  at  least,  is  an  organization  that 
speaks  to  our  day,  and  does  not  take  refuge  be- 
hind the  authority  of  ink  and  Aramaic.  To  be 
sure,  the  doctrine  of  '*  apostoHc  succession,"  to 
use  the  crude  illustration  of  another,  may  seem 
"  like  a  great  gas-pipe  system,  that  refuses  to 
admit  that  any  life  can  be  the  '  light  of  the  world  ' 
until  it  is  connected  with  the  main,"  but  there  will 
always  be  some  who  see  greater  advantage  in 
this  system,  than  in  one  that  shuts  up  Christianity 
in  a  first-century  reservoir,  and  then  abolishes  the 
main.  The  latter  method  leaves  us  utterly 
disconnected,  and  in  the  darkness. 

The  claim  that  the  heretics  had  no  right  to 
the  documents,  that  the  church  was  the  ''  heir  of 
the  apostles,"  and  that  Rome  held  "  sure  title- 
deeds  "  to  every  book,  was  the  sine  qua  non  of  a 
closed  New  Testament.  There  will  always  seem 
to  be  a  fundamental  inconsistency  in  a  church  that 
accepts  the  result  as  infallible,  and  then  rejects 
the  authority  by  which  it  was  produced.  Prot- 
estantism has  taken  her  closed  canon  of  revela- 
tion from  the  Catholic  Church,  has  read  theology 
into  it  by  the  Gnostic  and  Catholic  method  of  in- 
terpretation, has  taken  it  for  granted  that  all 
questions   were   anticipated  by  the  writers,   has 


THE    CATHOLIC    FATHERS  I95 

made  the  essence  of  Christianity  to  consist  in  a 
historical  and  final  revelation,  has  repeated  the 
Catholic  creeds  in  her  services  for  hundreds  of 
years,  and  in  short  has  accepted  the  whole  pro- 
gramme by  which  the  Catholic  Church  was 
formed,  save  the  one  declaration  that  gave  that 
programme  its  power  and  consistency,  viz.,  "  I 
am  the  heir  of  the  apostles." 


IX 


THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES 


IX 


THE  Epistles  of  Paul,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
becoming  an  inconvenient  heritage  to  the 
church.  His  ringing  declarations  of  freedom,  his 
deep  spiritual  conception  of  redemption,  and  the 
large  liberty  he  accorded  to  the  churches  he 
founded,  seemed  incompatible  with  the  second 
century  effort  at  centralization.  The  spiritual 
democracy  of  those  burning  centers  of  light  and 
revelation,  which  he  kindled  in  the  pagan  dark- 
ness, was  a  principle  exceedingly  dangerous  to  the 
hierarchy.  What  to  do  with  Paul  was  the  prob- 
lem of  the  hour.  It  was  solved  by  raising  the  old 
question  once  more,  which  the  great  apostle  had 
faced  in  his  own  day,  and  which  he  brushed  aside 
so  proudly  by  calling  attention  to  the  spiritual 
fruit  of  his  labors,  "  Where  did  he  get  his  author- 
ity as  an  apostle?"  He  was  not  one  of  the  Twelve. 
He  had  not  been  trained  and  commissioned  by 
the  Founder  of  Christianity.  He  had  not  been 
"  ordained." 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  this  problem  raises 

the  whole  question  of  the  seat  of  authority  in 

199 


200  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

religion.  A  church  that  is  trying  to  exclude  from 
her  counsels  all  teachers  who  have  not  been  prop- 
erly ordained  by  the  successors  of  the  apostles, 
will  be  in  danger  of  losing  the  greatest  spiritual 
character  ever  produced  by  Christianity.  What 
violence  has  to  be  done,  by  such  a  church,  to  the 
teaching  of  Paul,  in  order  to  get  possession  of  the 
person  of  Paul,  we  leave  our  readers  to  determine 
for  themselves  as  they  read  the  following  pages. 
The  question  came  squarely  before  the  church 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century.  Can  it 
be  proved,  by  some  old  document,  that  the  apos- 
tles were  regarded  in  the  early  days  as  a  com- 
pact body,  from  which  all  authority  emanated? 
Can  we  furnish  any  apostolic  sanction,  upholding 
the  writings  of  Paul,  and  placing  them  on  a 
canonical  basis?  The  doctrine  of  "apostolic 
succession  "  is  a  chain  that  must  lack  no  link. 

To  supply  this  link  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
now  comes  to  the  front.  In  all  previous  Christian 
literature  we  find  only  two  or  three  uncertain 
quotations  from  it.  It  is  not  surprising  that  many 
critics  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  took  the  stand 
that  the  book  was  actually  composed  at  this  time, 
to  meet  the  need  which  it  was  made  to  supply. 
This  theory  has  been  completely  abandoned,  but 


THE    ACTS    OF    THE   APOSTLES  20I 

the  fact  remains  significant  that  so  little  use  was 
made  of  it  before  the  end  of  the  second  century. 
There  were  many  books  in  circulation,  recording 
the  deeds  and  doctrines  of  the  different  apostles. 
Why  was  this  one  singled  out?  Let  TertuUian 
answer !  "  They  who  reject  that  book  of  Scrip- 
ture can  neither  belong  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  seeing 
that  they  cannot  acknowledge  that  the  Spirit  has 
been  sent  as  yet  to  the  disciples,  nor  can  they 
pretend  to  be  a  church,  seeing  that  they  have  no 
means  of  proving  when  and  with  what  infant- 
nursing  this  body  was  established."  ^  "I  may 
say  here  to  those  who  reject  this  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  '  It  is  first  necessary  that  you  show  us 
who  this  Paul  was — both  what  he  was  before  he 
became  an  apostle,  and  how  he  became  an  apos- 
tle.' "  Such  statements  might  be  multiplied  al- 
most without  end.  Again  and  again  is  Marcion 
reminded  that  Paul  went  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  re- 
ceived his  authority  from  the  apostolic  college. 
It  was  on  this  visit  that  he  was  "  ordained,"  and 
received  his  "  apostolic  succession." 

The  importance  of  this  claim  can  readily  be 
seen.  Marcion  was  making  converts  by  the  thou- 
sands, upon  the  basis  of  a  Pauline  Christianity 

^  De  Praescr.,  22. 


202  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

that  was  torn  loose  from  every  apostolic  and 
Jiidaistic  tie.  He  misunderstood  the  great 
apostle  in  many  important  particulars,  to  be  sure, 
but  he  comprehended  his  fundamental  principle 
much  better  than  did  the  church  at  large,  and  he 
was  making  havoc  among  the  followers  of  the 
growing  hierarchy  because  of  his  earnest  and 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the  principle  of  justi- 
fication by  faith.  There  was  no  turning  back  for 
the  church.  She  must  show  Paul  to  have  been  a 
loyal  and  devout  Catholic.  The  method  taken  to 
do  this  comes  out  plainly  in  both  Irenaeus  and  Ter- 
tullian.  Both  of  these  writers  take  that  ringing 
declaration  of  independence  in  the  second  chapter 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  completely 
change  it.  Paul  no  longer  says,  "  To  whom  we 
gave  place  by  subjection,  no,  not  for  an  hour !  " 
We  are  told  that  this  is  "  an  interpolation  of 
Scripture."  What  he  really  said  was,  "  For  an 
hour  I  gave  place  by  subjection."  It  is  a  neat 
turn.  By  the  simple  omission  of  the  negative, 
Paul  is  changed  from  the  '*  free  man  of  Christ," 
into  a  submissive  and  humble  believer  in  apos- 
tolic succession.  For  the  sake  of  the  great 
Catholic  Church  he  bows  his  head,  and  receives 
from    the    hands    of    the    apostles    that    divine 


THE    ACTS    OB^    THE    APOSTLES  2O3 

commission  without  which  a  man  is  a  heretic  and 
an  outcast. 

This  interpretation,  which  changes  the  great 
emancipator  of  the  first  century  into  a  medieval 
saint,  was  no  doubt  beheved  in  thoroughly  by 
Irenaeus  and  Tertullian.  They  could  not  imagine 
for  a  moment  that  Paul  would  be  guilty  of  an  act 
of  insubordination.  The  Catholic  type  of  mind, 
which  is  always  willing  "  to  give  place  by  sub- 
jection for  an  hour,"  is  totally  incapable  of  com- 
prehending the  spirit  that  cries,  *'  Brethren,  ye 
have  been  called  unto  liberty !  "  Believing  in  a 
salvation  that  has  been  mediated  through  external 
ceremonies  and  rituals,  it  looks  upon  all  resistance 
to  the  organization  as  an  act  of  pride,  to  be  put 
down  as  the  very  temptation  of  the  evil  one.  Paul 
could  not  possibly  have  said  that  he  resisted  the 
apostles.  The  negative  must  be  an  interpolation. 
Irenaeus  and  Tertullian  well  know  that  changes 
in  the  text  of  Christian  documents  were  not  in- 
frequent. Just  as  Marcion  believed  that  the 
Gospel  of  Luke  had  been  tampered  with,  in  cer- 
tain phrases  and  incidents,  for  the  sake  of  the 
Catholic  view,  so  the  Fathers  were  perfectly 
sincere  in  their  belief  that  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  had  been  altered  by  some  one  who  was 


204  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

seeking  to  overthrow  the  doctrine  of  apostoHc 
succession. 

The  book  of  Acts  was  of  great  service  in  the 
formation  of  a  New  Testament.  Together  with 
the  so-called  "  catholic  epistles  "  it  formed  the 
connecting  link  between  the  Gospels  and  Paul. 
It  furnished  the  latter  with  his  authority;  it  ex- 
cluded the  heretics,  because  it  taught  the  Catholic 
doctrine  of  the  laying  on  of  hands;  and  it  gave 
to  the  whole  Christian  system  its  legal  validity 
and  authority  from  heaven,  Pentecost  being  its 
Sinai.  Though  it  really  represents  the  activity 
of  but  two  of  the  apostles — Peter  and  Paul — it 
immediately  steps  into  prominence  as  being  a 
history  of  the  twelve  apostles.  The  Muratorian 
Fragment  calls  it  the  "  Acts  of  all  the  Apostles  " ; 
Aphrates  cites  it  with  the  title,  "  History  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles  " ;  and  the  "  Doctrine  of  Ad- 
daei  "  refers  to  it  as  the  "  Acts  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles."  In  one  chapter,  where  Irenseus  is 
attempting  to  give  "  the  doctrines  of  the  twelve 
apostles,"  out  of  thirty-five  quotations  from  the 
New  Testament  thirty  are  from  the  book  of 
Acts.  (III.,  12.)  Nothing  is  more  suggestive  of 
the  method  and  the  motive  in  the  formation  of  a 
New    Testament    than    the    sudden    prominence 


THE    ACTS    OF    THE    APOSTLES  205 

given  to  this  old  document,  that  had  hitherto  at- 
tracted very  Httle  attention,  and  had  simply  been 
one  of  the  large  number  of  books  that  were  used 
in  the  church  for  ethical  instruction  and  spiritual 
improvement. 

Up  to  this  time  no  lines  had  been  drawn  in  the 
matter  of  inspiration,  but  there  must  have  been  a 
slight  distinction  made  between  those  books  that 
merely  related  the  history  of  the  apostles,  and 
those  that  contained  the  "  commands  of  the 
Lord,"  or  the  utterances  of  Christian  prophets. 
The  latter  came  with  more  direct  and  positive 
power,  and  had  more  the  appearance  of  a  per- 
sonal message,  than  the  mere  record  of  the 
journeys  and  sayings  of  holy  men.  To  the  aver- 
age Christian  of  the  middle  of  the  second  century 
the  words  of  the  Shepherd  of  Hernias  were 
about  on  a  level  with  the  sayings  of  Jesus.  All 
through  the  East  the  Revelation  of  Peter  was  re- 
garded as  Scripture.  Apocalypses  of  Thomas,  of 
Stephen,  of  John,  fired  the  heart  of  the  believer. 
Now  it  is  utterly  inconceivable  that  if  a  vote  had 
been  taken  as  to  just  what  books  should  be  in- 
cluded in  the  New  Testament  these  would  have 
been  left  out.  It  is  far  more  probable  that  a 
book  like  the  Acts,  which  can  hardly  be  traced 


206  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

in  previous  literature  at  all,  and  which  was  far 
less  popular  than  the  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thecla, 
would  have  been  excluded.  In  a  very  large 
collection,  and  on  the  basis  of  a  wide  conception 
of  canonicity,  it  might  have  been  included.  If 
excluded,  it  would  not  have  been  because  of  any 
lack  of  confidence  in  its  genuineness  and  trust- 
worthiness, but  because  less  interest  attached  to 
historical  books  than  to  the  declarations  of 
prophets. 

But  the  New  Testament  was  not  formed  by 
popular  vote.  The  interest  that  closed  the  book 
was  theological  and  ecclesiastical,  not  religious 
and  redemptive.  To  call  it  "  the  spontaneous 
declaration  of  the  Christian  consciousness,"  is  to 
confuse  in  a  hopeless  manner  the  ambition  of  a 
hierarchy  with  the  consensus  of  brethren,  the 
speculations  of  philosophers  with  the  faith  of 
believers.  It  may  be  that  we  have  a  better  New 
Testament  than  if  it  had  been  born  of  the  heart 
of  the  early  Christian  communities,  but  that  we 
would  have  had  a  different  New  Testament,  had 
it  been  so  produced,  there  can  be  scarcely  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt. 

There  were  many  books  in  existence  recording 
the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  apostles.     Clement 


THE   ACTS    OF    THE    APOSTLES  207 

of  Alexandria  by  no  means  regarded  our  book 
of  Acts  as  the  sole  source  of  the  history  of  the 
apostles.  He  seems  to  have  been  much  more 
familiar  with  the  Preaching  of  Peter,  and  to 
have  estimated  that  book  just  as  highly,  if  not 
higher.  He  uses,  as  equally  important  sources 
of  apostolic  life  and  doctrine,  the  Acts  of  John, 
and  the  Traditions  of  Matthias.^  TertuUian 
refers  to  "  this  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  in  a  dis- 
cussion that  plainly  implies  that  his  readers  rec- 
ognize others.^  Indeed  he  has  no  easy  task  in 
attacking  those  in  the  Carthaginian  church  who 
derive  their  authority  for  the  right  of  women  to 
practise  baptism  from  the  Acts  of  Paul  and 
Thecla.^  This  book  was  extremely  popular, 
and  was  generally  looked  upon  as  genuine. 
It  was  placed  side  by  side  with  the  book  of  Acts 
by  many  in  places  of  authority  in  the  church. 
Several  of  the  earlier  collections  included  it  in 
the  canonical  list.  TertuUian  himself  appeals  to 
the  Acts  of  Pilate  as  an  authoritative  and 
trustworthy  source  of  Christian  history.*  The 
Montanists  in  the  West  supported  some  of  their 
doctrines  by  appealing  to  the  Acts  of  Lucius, 

*  Hypotyp.,  I.,  John  1:1.  ^  De  Praescr.,  23. 

2  De  Bap.,  17.  *  Apolog.,  21. 


208  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

never  supposing  for  an  instant  that  this  book  was 
not  firm  ground  to  stand  upon.^  This  Lucius, 
about  whom  so  many  interesting  traditions 
were  current  in  the  early  church,  that  he  was 
one  of  the  seventy,  that  he  was  the  "  kinsman  " 
referred  to  by  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
(i6  :  21 ),  that  he  was  in  the  congregation  to 
which  Peter  preached  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
that  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Cenchrsea  by 
Paul,  and  many  other  things — was  included  in 
the  list  of  "  apostles  "  before  the  middle  of  the 
second  century.  The  common  tradition  may  have 
identified  him  with  Luke.  At  any  rate  the  Acts 
of  Lucius  was  widespread,  and  was  regarded  as 
an  authoritative  document. 

There  were  many  other  books  of  "  Acts."  In 
the  Codex  Claromontanus  we  find  the  Acts  of 
Paul  included  in  the  list  of  New  Testament 
books.  Indeed  he  who  tries  to  thread  his  way 
through  all  the  references  to  the  Acts  of  Peter, 
the  Acts  of  John,  the  Acts  of  Thomas,  the 
Acts  of  Paul,  the  Acts  of  Andrew  and  John, 
the  Preaching  of  Paul  and  Peter  at  Rome, 
the   Doctrine   of    Peter,    the   Writings   of   Bar- 

^  These  were  probably  the  Acts  of  Peter,  John,  Thomas,  and 
Andrew,  of  which  portions  have  come  down  to  us. 


THE    ACTS    OF    THE    APOSTLES  209 

tholomew,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  of  Seleu- 
ciis,  the  Acts  of  Lenticius,  and  countless  other 
books  referred  to  in  the  Fathers,  will  obtain 
some  slight  conception  of  the  exceedingly  broad 
standard  of  apostolic  authority  that  must  have 
obtained  in  the  early  church.  The  literature  must 
have  been  endless.  As  it  has  nearly  all  been  lost, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  fragments,  judgment 
upon  it  is  an  impossibility.  Of  course  it  is  easy 
to  accept  the  conclusion  of  the  church,  and  decide 
that  all  these  books  were  spurious,  and  that  not 
one  of  them  contained  any  authentic  history  of 
the  apostles.  To  the  fair-minded  student,  who 
is  acquainted  with  the  motives  and  methods  that 
closed  the  New  Testament,  such  a  conclusion  is 
somewhat  naive.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  com- 
mon Christian  in  the  assemblies  of  the  early  sec- 
ond century,  when  men  were  witnessing  to  their 
faith  by  their  blood,  loved  these  documents,  and 
received  from  them  a  glow  of  faith  and  devotion 
that  has  been  rarely  equaled  in  all  subsequent 
history. 

Particularly  was  this  true  of  the  apocalyptic 
visions  of  the  apostles.  There  was  a  Revelation 
of   Peter,   a   Revelation   of   Paul,   a   Revelation 

of    Thomas,    a    Revelation    of    Stephen,    and 
o 


2IO  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

many  others.  In  circles  that  retained  the  primi- 
tive expectation  of  a  return  of  the  Lord  these 
prophetic  documents  must  have  been  more  pop- 
ular than  the  more  prosaic  "  Acts."  Roman 
conquests,  and  the  rumors  of  distant  revolutions 
fired  the  imagination  of  the  Christian,  and  the  pre- 
dictions and  visions  of  apostles  assumed  unusual 
importance.  Had  we  the  material  at  hand,  noth- 
ing would  be  more  interesting  than  to  trace  the 
rise  and  fall  of  the  prophetic  form  of  literature, 
with  the  appearance  and  subsidence  of  persecu- 
tion. But  we  are  utterly  in  the  dark.  We  have 
vague  glimpses  of  a  whole  realm  of  literature, 
that  exerted  a  profound  influence  on  the  early 
church,  and  then  was  lost.  Its  very  nature  has 
to  be  surmised.  Its  spirit  and  teaching  possessed 
a  dynamic  power  that  resulted  in  many  deeds  of 
heroism  and  endurance.  It  was  backed  by  the 
authority  of  apostles,  and  that  it  came  as  a  real 
revelation  from  God  was  never  questioned  by 
thousands  of  Christians.  It  was  far  more  in- 
fluential than  many  books  that  found  a  place  in 
the  New  Testament. 

But  it  is  useless  to  speculate.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  all  these  books  existed,  and  that  from  a 
time  reaching  back  into  a  period  when  many  of 


THE    ACTS    OF    THE    APOSTLES  211 

our  New  Testament  books  were  written  they  had 
borne  the  name  of  apostles.  Were  they  finally  re- 
jected because,  by  a  minute  and  scientific  investi- 
gation, it  was  determined  that  their  origin  was 
not  apostolic?  To  answer  such  a  question  in  the 
negative  we  need  only  read  a  few  pages  in  Ire- 
naeus  and  Tertullian.  Only  one  ''  Acts,"  and 
only  one  ''  Apocalypse,"  found  a  place  in  the 
canon.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  Apoca- 
lypse of  John  firmly  and  finally  established  its 
right  to  a  place  in  the  second  collection,  but  our 
book  of  Acts  sprang  into  canonical  authority 
all  at  once,  and  held  its  place  ever  afterward. 
Again  and  again  do  Irenseus  and  Tertullian  re- 
mind us  that  ''it  must  be  accepted."  Why? 
Because  those  who  reject  it  have  no  means  of 
proving  that  they  are  a  church.  Because  the 
doctrine  of  "  apostolic  succession "  is  there 
plainly  and  distinctly  taught.  Because  it  shows 
that  even  Paul  dare  not  go  forth  to  preach  until 
he  had  gone  up  to  Jerusalem  to  get  credentials 
from  the  apostles.  If  this  was  true  of  the  great 
messenger  to  the  Gentiles,  what  shall  we  say  of 
those  who  dare  to  teach  without  first  asking  per- 
mission from  the  ordained  successors  to  the 
apostles?     By  spending  a  few  moments  looking 


212  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Up  the  quotations  from  the  Acts  in  Irenseus 
and  TertulHan,  the  most  careless  student  can  con- 
vince himself  of  the  motive  that  dragged  the 
Acts  into  the  canon.  It  v^as  not  its  apostolic 
authorship,  but  its  seeming  sanction  of  the  idea 
of  an  apostolic  church,  that  gave  it  its  sudden 
place  of  prominence.  It  was  elevated  above  all 
the  other  histories  of  the  apostles,  not  because  it 
was  found  to  be  historical,  and  they  were  found 
to  be  legendary,  but  because  Marcion  in  particu- 
lar, and  the  Gnostics  in  general,  were  dividing  the 
church,  and  were  forming  what  seemed  to  be  a 
partial  and  fragmentary  Christianity,  and  some 
ground  of  authority  had  to  be  found  upon  which 
to  unify  Christendom. 

This  ground  was  discovered  in  the  doctrine  of 
"  apostolic  succession,"  taught  in  the  book  of 
Acts.  That  the  book  of  Acts  is  a  wonderful 
document,  no  one  will  deny.  That  its  incidents 
of  faith  and  heroism  have  a  history  in  all  subse- 
quent Christian  consciousness  and  life,  is  scarcely 
a  matter  for  discussion  after  these  two  thousand 
years.  But  that  it  found  its  way  into  the  New 
Testament  because  of  a  critical  examination  of 
its  contents,  and  a  careful  comparison  of  all  other 
books  of  Acts,  is  a  theory  that  is  simply  absurd. 


THE    ACTS    OF    THE   APOSTLES  213 

Who  shall  say  that  the  Acts  of  John,  and  the 
Acts  of  Peter,  would  not  have  had  a  great 
history  too,  had  they  been  included  in  the  New 
Testament  ?  The  formation  of  the  canon  was  not 
the  result  of  a  critical  process,  but  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical movement.  Very  little  careful  scholarship 
is  to  be  found  in  the  church  before  the  days  of 
Origen,  and  then  it  was  simply  to  establish  con- 
clusions already  reached.  The  hierarchical  method 
is  always  to  settle  questions  first  by  the  decree  of 
the  church,  and  then  to  call  in  her  scholars  to 
defend  what  has  already  been  done.  There  was 
a  great  deal  of  discussion  over  a  few  particular 
books  for  nearly  a  century,  and  the  limits  of 
the  canon  fluctuated  somewhat  all  the  time,  but 
that  was  because  the  Catholic  Church  was  not 
definitely  formed,  and  it  was  not  finally  settled 
just  what  needed  to  be  supported  by  the  canon. 
The  great  mass  of  early  literature,  however,  was 
never  again  considered,  and  all  the  apostolic  Acts 
and  Visions  began  to  disappear  in  the  darkness. 

We  cannot  pass  on  without  a  word  of  regret. 
The  Moslem  who  said  that  if  the  books  of  the 
library  in  Alexandria  were  in  the  Koran  they 
were  useless,  and  if  they  were  not  they  were  per- 
nicious,   has   filled    the   centuries    with   sorrow. 


214  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Nor  can  we  think,  without  a  feeling  of  deep  dis- 
appointment, of  the  loss  of  that  great  body  of 
literature  which  the  church  regarded  as  sacred 
in  days  of  so  great  strength  and  purity.  It 
may  have  contained  many  childish,  many  gro- 
tesque, many  foolish  things.  It  may  have  been 
as  useless  and  as  weird  as  the  book  that  speaks 
of  "  seven  angels  and  seven  trumpets  "  seemed 
to  the  Alogi.  But  it  must  have  contained  pas- 
sages of  inspired  beauty  and  grandeur,  and  these 
the  world  can  ill  afford  to  lose.  To  be  sure  there 
are  some  who  say  that  the  elevation  of  certain 
books  into  a  canon  was  the  very  thing  that  pre- 
served them  for  us,  and  that  but  for  this  act  we 
should  probably  not  have  any  literature  of  the 
early  church  at  all.  This,  however,  even  if  we 
grant  it,  which  is  by  no  means  necessary,  does 
not  save  us  from  the  regret  that  the  norm  of 
this  canon  formation  was  so  narrow,  and 
merely  cheers  us  with  the  thought  that  it 
might  have  been  worse.  It  simply  says  that 
we  can  never  know  the  whole  body  of  literature 
from  which  Christianity  received  her  inspiration, 
at  a  time  when  she  was  filling  the  whole  civilized 
world  with  her  spirit  and  her  power.  We  want 
to  know  more  about  that  transformation,  which 


THE    ACTS    OF   THE   APOSTLES  215 

constitutes  the  greatest  religious  change  in  the 
world's  history,  which  took  place  unnoticed  right 
beneath  the  gaze  of  some  of  the  most  noted  his- 
torians of  all  time,  which  was  creeping  through 
the  lanes  and  hovels  utterly  unobserved  by  phi- 
losophers and  statesmen,  and  which  only  emerges 
into  clear  light  when  it  became  a  great  world- 
power  and  began  its  period  of  compromise  and 
conquest.  But  most  of  the  literature  is  lost.  If 
any  consolation  is  to  be  found,  it  must  be  sought 
in  the  fact  that,  though  the  form  and  methods  of 
early  Christianity  can  never  be  determined  in 
complete  outline,  we  have  still  enough  books  pre- 
served to  give  us  a  clear  and  definite  impression 
of  what  it  was  in  its  spirit  and  in  its  purpose. 


X 


THE  VOICE  OF  ROME 


X 


THE  moment  the  assertion  was  made  that 
there  was  a  deposit  of  doctrine  contained 
in  a  definite  collection  of  documents,  whose  in- 
spired authority  it  was  impossible  for  after  ages  to 
attain,  that  moment  the  idea  of  a  New  Testament 
was  born.  We  have  seen  that  this  assertion  was 
made  in  the  Western  Church,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  second  century.  But  between  the  birth  of  an 
idea,  and  its  realization  as  a  fact,  long  periods  of 
time  often  intervene.  Ideas  have  to  fight  for  their 
lives  in  the  arena  of  affairs.  While  the  conception 
of  a  New  Testament  is  sudden  in  its  appearance, 
the  actual  realization  of  a  closed  book  was  a  long 
and  difficult  process.  We  find  men  taking  it  for 
granted  that  there  is  a  New  Testament  in  the 
period  with  which  we  are  dealing,  but  we  do  not 
find  them  in  entire  accord  as  to  its  contents.  The 
church  claims  that  there  is  a  fenced-off  period 
of  revelation,  and  that  she  is  the  "  heir  of  the 
apostles,"  but  she  has  not  yet  surveyed  the  terri- 
tory and  fixed  the  boundary  posts.  With  the  ac- 
tual accomplishment  of  a  closed  New  Testament, 

219 


220  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

and  with  the  decrees  of  Councils  by  which  the 
position  of  this  book  and  that  was  estabHshed, 
we  have  nothing  to  do  in  this  investigation.  The 
limits  of  our  study  do  not  carry  us  beyond  the 
birth  of  the  idea,  and  the  steps  by  which  that 
idea  obtained  a  foothold  in  the  world  of  human 
speculation  and  ambition.  But  to  carry  out  this 
purpose  we  cannot  entirely  avoid  the  question 
as  to  just  when  and  how  the  first  list  of  books 
was  made. 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  men  content  with  the 
simple  assertion  that  there  is  such  a  list,  and  that 
the  heretics  have  no  right  to  use  its  contents. 
"  You  have  no  right  to  hew  my  wood ;  you  have 
no  right  to  draw  my  water,"  says  the  church. 
But  where  is  the  fence  around  your  forest  ?  where 
is  the  curb  about  your  well?  The  church  is  not 
yet  centralized  herself,  and  to  give  to  the  world 
an  authoritative  statement  of  the  list  of  New 
Testament  books  is  a  difficult  thing  to  do.  The 
leaders  are  not  in  entire  accord.  A  bishop  of 
Antioch  would  allow  the  Gospel  of  Peter  to  be 
read  in  his  churches.  The  great  scholar  of  Alex- 
andria would  draw  doctrine  from  the  philoso- 
phers of  Greece.  What  is  to  be  done  ?  The  need 
is    urgent.      Is    there    no    one    to    speak    with 


THE   VOICE    OF    ROME  221 

authority?  Will  no  one  give  to  the  world  a  list 
of  books?  The  matter  cannot  be  submitted  to  a 
vote,  for  the  church  is  filled  with  all  sorts  of 
vagaries  and  wild  speculations.  Even  in  the  days 
of  Augustine,  after  years  of  Catholic  triumph, 
that  writer  enumerated  eighty-eight  Christian 
sects.    What  is  needed  is  an  authoritative  decree. 

The  reader  is  doubtless  familiar  with  that  dis- 
covery of  modern  science,  by  which  an  astrono- 
mer, after  observing  certain  perturbations  among 
the  planets,  told  a  fellow-observer  that  if  he 
would  turn  his  telescope  to  a  certain  spot  in  the 
heavens,  on  a  certain  night,  he  would  see  a 
planet  that  had  never  been  seen  before.  One  who 
has  followed  events  with  us  thus  far  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  second  century,  and  has  marked  the 
trend  of  thought  as  revealed  by  Irenseus  and 
Tertullian,  will  say :  "  If  you  look  carefully  in 
the  direction  of  Rome  you  will  see  her  issue 
a  list  of  the  authoritative  books  of  the  New 
Testament  about  the  year  a.  d.  190." 

This  is  exactly  what  she  did.  In  the  Ambro- 
sian  Library  at  Milan  the  famous  Italian  archeol- 
ogist,  Lodovico  Antonio  Muratori,  discovered  in 
1740  a  fragment,  that  is  an  evident  attempt 
to   enumerate   what   books   belons:   to   the    New 


222  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Testament.^  Its  date  is  fixed  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  second  century  by  the  words :  "The  Shepherd, 
moreover,  did  Hermas  write  very  recently,  in  our 
times,  in  the  city  of  Rome,  while  his  brother 
Bishop  Pius  sat  in  the  chair  of  the  church  of 
Rome."  ^  This  "  Muratorian  Fragment,"  as  it 
is  called,  is  beyond  a  doubt  the  attempt  made  by 
the  Roman  Church  to  close  the  canon  of  Chris- 
tian literature.  When  Tertullian  says  of  Rome, 
''  The  law  and  the  prophets  she  unites  in  one 
volume  with  the  writings  of  evangelists  and 
apostles,  from  which  she  drinks  her  faith," 
he  refers  to  something  more  definite  than  a  mere 
consensus  of  opinion.  The  importance  of  the 
Fragment  lies  more  in  the  fact  that  an  attempt 
at  a  catalogue  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
was  made  at  this  time,  and  in  this  place,  than  in 
anything  else,  but  we  may  find  a  few  suggestive 
things  in  its  contents,  despite  its  brevity. 

The  writer  assures  us  that  Luke  wrote  his 
Gospel  under  Paul's  direction.^  He  especially 
warns  his  readers  against  any  book  of  the  Valen- 
tinians  or  the  Marcionites,  or  any  of  the  heretics.* 

^  For  a  more  general  discussion,  see  Harnack,  "  Zeitschrift  fiir 
Kirrhengesclii"liie,"  1879,  358  ff . ;  Treerelles,  "Canon  Muratorianus," 
Oxford,   1867;   Westcott,  "  On  the  Canon,"  5th  edition,  p.   521. 

2Fol.   IIo,   II.  3Fo].   la,   5.  *Fol.   lla,   19. 


THE    VOICE    OF    ROME  223 

Of  the  Epistles  of  Paul  he  speaks  at  some  length. 
We  can  glean  from  what  he  says  a  slight  sug- 
gestion of  the  difficulty  involved  in  the  insertion 
of  literature  of  a  private  nature,  like  epistles,  into 
the  canon.  There  were  no  epistles  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Why  should  there  be  any  in  the 
New?  Paul,  he  assures  us,  though  writing  to 
particular  churches,  and  not  to  the  church  in 
general,  yet  wrote  to  seven  churches,  and  seven 
is  the  ecumenical  number.  "  And  John  too,"  he 
adds,  "  in  the  Apocalypse,  although  he  writes  to 
seven  churches,  yet  addresses  all."  ^  As  to  the 
four  Epistles  to  private  individuals,  although 
written  from  "  personal  feeling  and  affection," 
yet  they  are  "  hallowed  in  the  esteem  of  the 
catholic  church  in  the  regulation  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal discipline."  ^  This  necessity  of  apologizing 
for  any  "  personal  feeling  and  affection  "  in  the 
New  Testament  books  is  extremely  significant. 
The  conception  of  a  canon  is  a  foe  to  anything 
personal.  The  writers  must  lose  their  individ- 
uality if  they  are  to  gain  canonical  authority. 

The  same  thing  comes  out  in  his  treatment  of 
the  Gospels.  "  Although  different  points  are 
taught  in  the  several  books  of  the  Gospels,"  he 

»Fol.  lb,  26.  2Foi    i^^  29. 


224  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

says,  "  there  is  no  difference  as  regards  the  faith 
of  behevers,  inasmuch  as  in  all  of  them  all  things 
are  related  under  one  leading  Spirit,  concerning 
the  nativity,  the  passion,  the  resurrection,  the 
conversation  with  his  disciples,  and  the  twofold 
advent."  ^  We  have  here  an  attempt  at  a  doc- 
trine of  "  inspiration."  In  the  interest  of  homo- 
geneity the  writers  are  beginning  to  lose  their 
identity.  When  the  canon  is  complete  every 
word  of  it  will  be  regarded  as  written  **  under 
one  leading  Spirit,"  and  the  writers  will  be  simply 
the  amanuenses.  As  to  the  heretical  Gospels, 
Epistles,  and  redactions,  the  Fragmentist  enters 
into  no  argument,  but  simply  states  that  they  are 
to  be  rejected.  He  merely  gives  as  his  reason 
that  "  it  is  not  suitable  for  gall  to  be  mingled  with 
honey."  ^  This  is  the  general  method  of  procedure 
of  the  church  in  this  whole  movement.  It  is  one 
long  story  of  denunciation  and  dogmatism,  from 
first  to  last.  The  frequent  recurrence  in  the 
Fragmentist  of  such  words  as  "  we  receive," 
and  "  we  reject,"  is  very  suggestive.  The  docu- 
ment sounds  just  like  the  declaration  of  a 
church  that  is  beginning  to  feel  her  authority, 
and   that  does  not  see  the  need  of  wearisome 

»  Pol.  la,   1 6.  2  Pol    iia^  2. 


THE    VOICE   OF    ROME  225 

argumentation  over  a  matter  that  she  prefers  to 
settle  by  a  decree. 

Not  only  is  this  list  of  books  to  be  the  limit 
of  all  authority  in  matters  of  speculation,  but  it 
is  to  be  the  sole  source  of  ethical  instruction  and 
spiritual  edification.  No  other  books  can  be  read 
in  the  churches.  This  is  a  sweeping  declaration. 
Up  to  this  time  no  limit  had  been  set  to  the  pub- 
lic reading  of  Christian  books.  Any  document 
that  edified  was  allowed  in  the  church  services. 
Now  the  norm  is  reversed,  and  only  the  books 
that  are  allowed  in  the  church  services  are  able 
to  edify.  The  Fragmentist  has  no  easy  time  in 
dealing  with  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  on  the 
basis  of  this  norm.  Here  is  a  book  that  has 
helped  multitudes  of  Christians.  He  says  that 
they  ought  to  read  it  in  private,  ^'  but  it  cannot  be 
made  public  in  the  church  to  the  people,  nor  placed 
among  the  prophets,  as  their  number  is  complete, 
nor  among  the  apostles,  to  the  end  of  the  time."  ^ 
The  period  of  revelation  is  closed.  It  ceased  with 
the  apostles.  The  Shepherd  was  written  "  very 
recently  in  our  time."  Such  a  book,  whatever  its 
beauty  and  helpfulness,  cannot  be  authoritative. 
The  number  of  prophets  is  complete. 

»Fol.    Ua,   15. 
P 


226  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Of  the  Acts  he  says:  ''The  Acts  of  all  the 
Apostles  are  comprised  by  Luke  in  one  book,  and 
addressed  to  the  most  excellent  Theophilus."  ^ 
He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  Luke  was  an 
''  eye-witness "  of  all  things  therein  recorded. 
He  says  nothing  whatever  of  the  numerous  other 
books,  purporting  to  give  the  history  of  the 
apostles.  It  is  sufficient  condemnation  of  them 
to  leave  them  out  of  the  authoritative  list.  There 
is  one  thing,  however,  which  the  Fragmentist 
feels  called  upon  to  explain.  This  book,  which 
is  supposed  to  relate  all  the  doings  of  all  the 
apostles,  says  nothing  whatever  of  the  visit  of 
Peter  to  Rome.  This  is  a  serious  defect  in  a 
document  that  has  to  play  the  part  of  godfather 
to  an  apostolic  and  Roman  Church.  Some  good 
reason  must  be  found  for  it.  This  reason,  the 
Fragmentist  assures  us,  is  nothing  less  than  the 
unwillingness  of  New  Testament  writers  to  record 
anything  from  mere  hearsay.  Luke  witnessed 
everything  he  records  in  his  book,  but  he  did  not 
accompany  Peter  to  Rome,  and  so  he  does  not 
speak  of  it.  This  one  fact,  so  essential  and  funda- 
mental to  the  conception  of  "  apostolic  succes- 
sion "   has   to  be  left  to   tradition,   and   to   the 

ipol.  lb.  3. 


THE   VOICE    OF    ROME  "22"] 

authoritative  declaration  of  the  church.  The  state- 
ment that  New  Testament  writers  recorded  only 
what  they  had  seen  with  their  own  eyes  is  one 
that  the  Fragmentist  would  have  had  a  hard 
time  in  defending.  If  Paul  dictated  to  Luke  the 
third  Gospel,  as  he  declares,  did  he  only  relate 
what  he  had  himself  witnessed  ?  In  keeping  with 
this  strong  assertion  is  the  further  declaration  of 
the  Fragmentist  that  the  apostles  themselves  are 
the  sole  source  of  New  Testament  history.^  This 
claim  was  now  made  for  the  first  time.  Evidently 
Papias,  who  was  willing  to  talk  with  any  one  who 
had  seen  one  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  and  who 
estimated  this  testimony  higher  than  that  of  the 
documents,  had  never  heard  of  such  a  thing. 

Slight  though  the  Muratorian  Fragment  is, 
it  is  a  very  suggestive  document.  We  feel  in  it 
the  pulse-beat  of  the  authority  of  Rome.  The 
solemn  declarations  that  "  we  accept  this,"  and 
"  we  reject  that,"  and  that  this  other  "  must  not 
be  read,"  have  their  echo  in  history.  Chris- 
tianity's Caesar  has  crossed  the  Rubicon.  The 
church  IS  to  enter  upon  an  entirely  new  pe- 
riod. The  mistiness,  the  confusion,  the  uncer- 
tainty, of  the  fog-like  speculations  of  a  thousand 


228  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

schools,  must  cease.  The  Fragment  is  Hke  a  bolt 
of  lightning  that  clears  the  air.  To  be  sure 
the  movement  is  not  entirely  sudden  and  new. 
Just  as  the  surcharged  clouds  contain  the  elec- 
tricity long  before  it  descends  in  the  bolt  of  light- 
ning, so  the  conception  of  a  hierarchy  was  in 
solution  in  the  church  for  years  before  it  revealed 
itself.  Rome  only  made  explicit,  what  had  long 
been  implicit.  We  cannot  help  feeling  that  the 
Muratorian  Fragment  is  the  first  faint  note  of 
that  authority,  whose  thunderous  tones  are  to  be 
heard  through  the  centuries  in  the  West. 

Contrast  the  spirit  manifested  by  this  document 
with  the  attitude  of  the  same  period  in  the  East! 
Flow  different  are  these  authoritative  declara- 
tions from  the  spirit  of  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
with  his  broad  eclecticism,  and  his  exhortations, 
"  Take  the  Hellenic  books !  read  the  sibyl !  read 
Hystaspes !  "  "  Philosophy  was  given  to  the 
Greeks,  as  a  covenant  peculiar  to  them."  This 
was  the  common  conception  of  the  early  apolo- 
gists. We  surely  cannot  complain  of  the  weak- 
ness of  the  church  during  the  period  when  this 
broad  interpretation  was  put  upon  the  doctrine 
of  revelation.  ''  The  Hellenic  philosophy,"  said 
Clement,   "  has  torn  off  a   fragment  of  eternal 


THE   VOICE    OF    ROME  229 

truth  from  the  theology  of  the  ever-Hving  Word." 
It  took  a  long  time  for  this  spirit  to  die  out  en- 
tirely in  the  East.  Even  as  late  as  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  we  find  a  little  of  it  clinging  to 
the  leaders  of  thought  in  Alexandria.  Dionysius, 
who  was  surnamed  the  "  Great  "  because  of  his 
refutation  of  heresies,  who  became  bishop  about 
the  year  a.  d.  247,  tells  of  a  time  when  he  feared 
lest  the  reading  of  heretical  books  might  lead  him 
astray  in  his  own  thinking.  At  this  time  a  vision 
came  to  him,  and  he  was  commanded :  "  Read 
everything  which  thou  canst  take  in  hand,  for 
thou  art  able  to  correct  and  prove  all;  and  this 
has  been  to  thee  from  the  beginning  the  ground  of 
thy  faith."  ' 

What  a  revolution  would  have  been  accom- 
plished if  this  "  ground  of  faith  "  had  been  ex- 
tended beyond  the  episcopal  chair !  The  right  to 
read  books  outside  the  authoritative  list  was  de- 
nied by  the  Fragmentist.  Tertullian  said  that  the 
Roman  Church  "  drank  her  faith  "  from  a  closed 
collection  of  documents.  That  faith  is  a  matter 
of  the  understanding,  and  is  to  be  obtained  by 
the  exegetical  interpretation  of  a  definite  collec- 
tion of  ancient  writings,  is  a  conception  that  is 

lEuseb.,  H.  E.,  VII.,  7,  3. 


230  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

just  beginning  to  take  possession  of  the  church. 
What  wonder  the  Fragmentist  felt  that  he  had 
to  apologize  because  a  New  Testament  writer 
wrote  "  from  personal  feeling  and  affection !  " 
Everything  personal  is  now  eliminated  from  the 
content  of  faith.  The  royal  throne  of  religion 
is  no  longer  set  up  in  the  soul  of  the  individual, 
but  is  established  without,  in  manuscripts  and 
miters  and  metaphysical  statements  of  truth.  It  is 
all  in  vain  that  men  are  inspired  to  deeds  of  com- 
passion, to  acts  of  heroism,  to  services  of  sympa- 
thy, while  reading  books  outside  of  the  authori- 
tative list.  Such  books  are  not  inspired.  The 
"  fruit  of  the  Spirit "  is  a  certain  cosmology, 
and  all  noble  and  moral  acts,  unaccompanied  by 
an  acceptance  of  the  true  doctrine,  are  worse  than 
useless. 

So  was  born  that  belief  in  the  guilt  of  theologi- 
cal error,  that  caused  the  blood  of  thousands  to 
be  shed  over  the  question  of  the  proper  time  of 
celebrating  Easter,  and  that  deprived  those  men 
of  the  honors  of  a  Christian  burial  who  refused 
to  admit  that  the  light  at  the  Transfiguration  was 
uncreated.  What  a  history  could  be  written  of 
those  words  of  the  Fragmentist,  "  We  reject !  " 
What  scenes  it  calls  up,  of  fierce  monks  dragging 


THE   VOICE   OF    ROME  23 1 

the  noble  Hypatia  into  a  Christian  churcli,  to 
tear  the  flesh  from  her  bones  with  sharp  shells, 
and  to  fling  her  naked  and  mangled  body  into  the 
flames ;  of  the  mob  of  followers  of  the  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  who  kicked  and  beat  Flavianus, 
bishop  of  Constantinople,  until  he  died,  in  the 
"Robber  Council"  of  Ephesus;  of  the  three 
thousand  persons  who  were  killed  in  the  riots  that 
convulsed  Constantinople  when  the  Athanasian 
Bishop  Paul  was  overthrown  by  the  Arian  Mace- 
donius;  of  the  fierce  and  bloody  conflicts  that 
followed  the  Council  of  Chalcedon;  and  of  all 
the  plunders,  and  murders,  and  outrages,  that 
followed  the  Monophysite,  the  Pelagian,  or  the 
Donatist  controversies.  Men  who  believed  that 
faith  consisted  in  the  acceptance  of  a  proper 
metaphysic,  could  hardly  act  otherwise.  When 
Greek  speculation  took  possession  of  hot-blooded 
barbarians,  and  was  made  the  essence  of  salva- 
tion, the  conditions  were  present  for  one  of  the 
fiercest  forms  of  intolerance  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Christianity  is  not  Christianity  without  a 
deep  passion  for  the  redemption  of  man.  But 
when  redemption  is  identified  with  the  acceptance 
of  a  cosmology,  toleration  becomes  a  sin. 

To  be  sure  all  this  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  the 


2T^2  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

formation  of  a  New  Testament,  nor  must  we 
overestimate  the  effect  of  eliminating  from  the 
documents  all  ''personal  feeling  and  affection." 
Other  factors,  of  course,  enter  into  the  result. 
But  the  Gnostic  tendency  to  place  the  emphasis 
upon  a  cosmology,  obtained  by  interpretation 
from  authoritative  documents,  which  passed  over 
into  the  church,  and  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
a  creed  and  a  canon,  is  beyond  question  the  be- 
ginning of  all  those  bloody  riots  and  fierce  perse- 
cutions, which  extracted  cries  of  wonder  from 
Julian,  and  called  down  upon  Christianity  the 
ridicule  of  cultured  pagans  of  Alexandria.  They 
simply  could  not  understand  how  men,  as  Gib- 
bon had  put  it,  could  shed  each  other's  blood  over 
a  diphthong.  Why  fill  the  world  with  carnage 
over  Homoousian  and  Homoiousian?  The  an- 
swer of  the  Christian  is  simple  enough,  "  On  the 
issue  involved  in  these  two  words  hang  all  the  in- 
terests of  time  and  eternity,  and  the  redemption 
of  the  whole  human  race  rests  on  a  proper  solu- 
tion." Men  like  Gibbon,  who  have  no  passionate 
desire  for  the  salvation  of  their  fellow-men,  may 
ridicule  Christianity  if  they  will,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  the  great  dynamic  power  of  all  im- 
provement is  that  intense  earnestness,  that  seems 


THE    VOICE    OF    ROME  233 

SO  terrible  when  it  runs  in  wrong  channels.  The 
pity  is  not  that  men  believed  so  intensely,  but 
that  their  belief  became  detached  from  moral  en- 
tities, and  poured  all  the  power  of  its  enthusiasm 
into  the  establishment  of  fixed  metaphysical 
formulas  of  faith.  Had  not  the  demand  for  these 
formulas  been  forced  upon  Christianity  by  the 
Gnostics,  and  had  not  the  desire  to  become  a 
compact  and  world-ruling  power  taken  possession 
of  it,  it  might  have  gone  on  for  an  unknown 
period  as  the  spiritual  leaven  in  the  lump  of  so- 
ciety, receiving  inspiration  from  every  source  that 
"  spake  with  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes." 


XI 


THE  PROCESS  REVIEWED 


XI 

LET  us  briefly  review  the  development.  The 
first  Christians,  in  settling  their  difficult 
questions  of  conduct,  naturally  appealed  to  the 
"  commands  of  the  Lord."  It  made  little  differ- 
ence whether  these  commands  were  read  from 
a  document,  or  were  related  by  an  apostle,  or 
came  from  one  who  had  been  the  companion  of 
an  apostle.  This  state  of  affairs  was  elastic 
enough  to  reach  down  past  the  first  quarter 
of  the  second  century.  Even  as  late  as  that  we 
have  seen  men  of  prominence  and  scholarship, 
leaders  in  the  church,  placing  greater  emphasis 
upon  the  spoken  than  upon  the  written  word. 
But  of  course  the  number  of  men  who  had  walked 
and  talked  with  apostles  became  less  and  less,  and 
the  written  word  rose  into  greater  and  greater 
prominence.  Even  now,  however,  it  was  not  held 
to  with  any  literalness  or  exactitude,  but  was 
used  in  a  free  and  simple  manner.  This  is  shown 
by  the  way  Tatian  took  the  Gospels  he  found  in 
Rome,  and  made  one  Gospel  out  of  them,  and 

went  out  as  a  missionary,  with  this  Gospel  as  his 

237 


2^^  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

only  Bible.  In  addition  to  this  we  find  one  of  the 
most  influential  bishops  in  the  East  willing  to 
admit  the  Gospel  of  Peter  into  the  churches  of 
his  diocese,  without  any  definite  idea  as  to  the 
number  of  the  gospel  narratives;  we  find  a 
strong  party  in  the  Western  Church,  whose 
leaders  had  come  from  the  East,  and  whose  mem- 
bers were  not  regarded  as  heretical  enough  to 
be  given  a  name,  who  rejected  the  Gospel  of 
John  entirely,  in  the  interest  of  church  unity; 
and  we  find  a  Gospel  according  to  the  Egyp- 
tians compiled  in  another  part  of  the  church  for 
the  fostering  of  a  certain  tendency  that  had  taken 
root  in  that  region.  It  is  thus  evident  that  little 
emphasis  is  put  upon  the  form  of  the  gospel 
narrative  long  after  the  church  relinquishes  her 
dependence  upon  oral  tradition,  and  falls  back 
entirely  upon  the  books. 

But  other  kinds  of  literature  grew  up.  Epis- 
tles were  written  by  apostles  and  apostolic  men, 
and  were  treasured  for  their  helpfulness  and  high 
spiritual  standards  long  after  the  circumstances 
that  gave  them  birth  had  passed  away.  These 
documents  were  circulated  in  other  churches  than 
the  ones  to  which  they  were  addressed,  though 
still  regarded  as  somewhat  local  and  particular  in 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  239 

character.  They  were  written  "  from  personal 
regard  and  affection,"  and  were  not  to  be  put  in 
exactly  the  same  category  as  the  Gospels.  There 
were  also  histories  of  the  apostles  in  abundance. 
Just  what  Peter  did  on  a  certain  occasion,  or  just 
what  John  or  Thomas  said  in  reply  to  a  certain 
question,  was  found  to  be  a  great  help  in  settling 
matters  of  conduct.  Triumphant  utterances  of 
the  apostles  were  very  comforting  too,  when 
the  Christian  had  to  face  martyrdom.  These 
books  also  were  held  in  high  esteem.  There  were 
numerous  books  of  vision  in  circulation  also, 
giving  the  dreams  of  the  apostles,  and  filled  with 
highly  colored  pictures  and  allegorical  figures. 
These  served  to  fire  the  imagination  of  the  more 
fervid  Christians,  and  no  doubt  formed  the  texts 
for  the  exhortations  of  countless  wandering 
prophets.  These  prophets  were  often  held  in 
very  high  regard,  and  their  utterances  were 
placed  on  a  level  with  the  things  contained  in 
the  books.  During  all  this  period  the  sole  aim  of 
the  church  was  the  realization  of  a  holy  life. 
Frequent  fires  of  persecution  kept  the  motives  of 
her  members  pure,  and  she  was  troubled  little 
with  disintegrating  speculations  and  vexing  moral 
problems. 


240  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

But  the  fires  of  persecution  died  down.  Mar- 
tyrdom bore  its  fruit  in  that  large  class  of  people 
who  mistake  admiration  of  heroism  for  heroism 
itself.  The  church  filled  up  with  less  serious  mem- 
bers. Men  began  to  try  to  explain.  Christianity 
was  found  to  be  very  interesting  on  its  specula- 
tive side.  Then  the  question  arose,  '*  Just  where, 
in  this  mass  of  Christian  literature,  shall  we  find 
an  authoritative  statement  of  the  system  of  Chris- 
lian  doctrine?  "  A  man  named  Heracleon  wrote 
a  commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  John,  the  first 
commentary  on  any  Christian  document.  Valen- 
tinus,  one  of  the  most  learned  men  in  the  church 
of  Rome,  by  means  of  the  allegorical  interpreta- 
tion, proved  that  Christ  and  the  apostles  had  held 
implicitly  a  curious  system  of  Platonic  philoso- 
phy and  Oriental  mysticism.  The  church  was 
dazed.  She  had  never  dreamed  that  such  things 
had  anything  to  do  with  Christianity.  What  was 
the  Christian  system?  A  halt  must  be  called. 
Nothing  could  be  determined  in  the  midst  of 
such  confusion. 

To  add  to  the  distraction  a  man  named  Mar- 
cion  had  discovered  a  discrepancy  between  a  life 
lived  according  to  certain  outward  precepts,  and  a 
life  of  freedom  from  law,  as  taught  by  Paul.    On 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  24I 

the  basis  of  this  discovery  he  set  out  to  reform  the 
church,  and  was  leading  away  thousands  of  her 
followers.  He  seemed  to  have  solved  the  ques- 
tion that  was  in  the  air  everywhere,  "  Wherein 
does  Christianity  differ  from  Judaism?  "  Above 
all  he  had  sifted  the  mass  of  Christian  literature, 
and  had  a  definite  and  fixed  collection  of  writings, 
upon  which  he  based  his  movement. 

Besides  all  this,  the  tendency  to  worldliness, 
which  was  inevitable  as  the  church  began  to  take 
in  all  classes,  started  a  movement  in  the  direction 
of  primitive  purity  and  enthusiasm.  The  Mon- 
tanists  were  charging  the  church  with  abandoning 
the  moral  standards  of  Christ  and  the  apos- 
tles; the  Marcionites  were  accusing  her  of 
forsaking  the  principle  of  Paul  which  was  the  very 
charter  of  her  liberty ;  and  the  Gnostics  were  tell- 
ing her  that  she  had  a  very  elaborate  system  of 
metaphysics  hidden  in  her  books,  of  which  she 
had  never  dreamed.  What  was  she  to  do  ?  With  all 
this  din  sounding  in  men's  ears,  she  could  teach 
the  world  nothing.  She  regarded  herself  as  a 
"  schoolmaster,"  according  to  the  Fathers.  She 
must  call  her  school  to  order.  She  must  "  beat 
the  strutting  vanity  "  out  of  her  refractory  pupils. 
They  must  become  docile,  or  depart  from  her 
Q 


242  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

jurisdiction.  Above  the  noise  and  confusion 
sounds  the  voice  of  Rome.  It  speaks  with  au- 
thority. "  We  accept  this !  "  ''  We  reject  that !  " 
it  cries.    So  was  born  the  canon. 

That  the  germs  of  this  development  can  be 
found  even  in  the  Hterature  of  the  first  century 
must  be  granted.  In  the  early  days  there  were 
''  Knowing  Ones,"  who  used  such  catch-words  as 
these :  "  I  know  God ;  I  dwell  in  God ;  I  have 
passed  from  death  unto  life."  It  is  all  right  to 
call  these  men  "  Gnostics,"  if  we  bear  in  mind  the 
fact  that  they  were  merely  the  forerunners  of  the 
movement.  They  are  far  from  being  the  celebrated 
schools  of  later  days.  They  do  not  bolster  up 
their  theories  by  documents.  The  chief  charge 
against  them  is  that  they  "  care  nothing  for  love, 
nothing  for  widows,  nothing  for  orphans,  noth- 
ing for  the  sick,  nothing  for  prisoners  or  freed 
captives,  nothing  for  them  that  hunger  and 
thirst"  (Ignatius).  Against  these  men  John 
urges  that  the  road  to  true  "  gnosis  "  is  love  to 
the  brethren.  This  battle  is  entirely  different 
from  the  one  that  arose  at  a  later  date.  The 
opposition  to  speculation,  mysticism,  idle  philoso- 
phy, dreams,  and  theoretical  prattle,  to  be  found 
in  the  Pastorals,  in  James,  in  the  Epistles  of  John, 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  243 

and  elsewhere  in  early  Christian  literature,  is  not 
at  all  theological,  and  has  no  need  whatever  for 
a  canon. 

This  applies  equally  to  the  fact  that  the  writers 
of  the  closing  years  of  the  first  century  regarded 
the  apostolic  age  as  of  superior  sanctity  and  au- 
thority, and  so  attach  the  names  of  apostles  to 
their  books.  Such  a  thing  might  have  gone  on 
for  centuries  without  a  canon  being  formed. 
Books  bearing  the  apostolic  names  were  written 
after  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  That 
this  would  have  come  to  an  end  at  last,  and  a  New 
Testament  have  been  formed,  had  there  been  no 
Gnostic  schools,  no  Montanism,  no  Marcionite 
movement,  we  cannot  deny.  But  in  such  a  hy- 
pothesis we  have  little  interest,  as  our  effort  has 
been  to  discover  how  it  actually  did  happen.* 

To  be  sure  the  ecclesiastical  tendency,  and  the 
spirit  of  prophecy,  came  into  conflict  before  the 
first  century  had  come  to  a  close.  This  was 
natural.     Prophets  and  bishops  never  get  along 

^  Wernle  discovers  ("  Beginnings  of  Christianity,"  II.,  246) 
what  he  calls  "  layers  "  of  documents  in  the  first  two  decades  of 
the  second  century.  To  these  he  gives  the  name  "  New  Testa- 
ment." This  seems  to  me  to  be  juggling  with  words.  It  is  like 
the  claim  that  Jesus  and  Paul  were  "Catholics."  Wernle 
himself  discovers  a  few  germs  of  a  hierarchy  in  Paul.  Is  it  legiti- 
mate, then,  to  call  Paul  a  "  Roman  Catholic  "  ?  History  is  im- 
possible if  we  use  words  so  loosely.  Nothing  ever  happens.  Some 
token,  some  faint  foreshadowing  of  everything,  can  be  found  in 
previous  history.  A  New  Testament  implies  a  closed  epoch  of 
revelation.     Where  does  Wernle  find  this  idea  before  a.  d.   150? 


244  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

well  in  the  same  church.  The  busy  workers  in 
the  cause  of  church  discipline  and  order,  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  Christian  movement, 
clashed  with  the  enthusiasts.  Each  had  a  litera- 
ture  to  which  they  appealed.  Some  of  the 
"  Acts  "  and  "  Apocalypses  "  of  the  visionaries 
were  very  popular  among  the  laity.  The  way  in 
which  Montanism  swept  over  the  church  is  a 
witness  to  the  mighty  influence  exercised  in  the 
early  days  by  those  who  believed  in  new  reve- 
lations straight  from  the  Spirit  of  God.  Mon- 
tanism, to  be  sure,  was  merely  a  revival.  The 
fading  out  of  dramatic  fancies  took  place  many 
years  before,  and  with  it  went  a  weakening  of  the 
spirit  of  prophecy.  This,  however,  was  not  due 
to  a  triumph  of  the  ecclesiastical  party,  but  to 
the  long-delayed  coming  of  Christ  on  the  clouds 
of  glory.  The  principle  of  an  "  open  vision  " 
was  not  abandoned  in  the  least,  but  enthusiasm 
died  down  because  prophecy  was  not  fulfilled. 
The  frequent  exhortations  in  these  da3^s  to 
obedience  to  the  bishop,  and  the  warnings  against 
"  false  prophets,"  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that 
still  the  fire  smoldered,  ready  to  burst  into  a  flame 
at  any  moment.  When  the  Epistle  of  Jude  quotes 
apocalyptic  writings  as  Scripture  it  is  only  falling 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  245 

in  line  with  the  thought  of  the  day.  Books  of 
vision  were  everywhere,  and  it  was  many  decades 
before  the  church  could  safely  declare  the  age 
of  revelation  closed. 

It  is  essential  for  us  to  remember,  however, 
that  the  formation  of  the  New  Testament  did  not 
put  a  higher,  but  a  different  value  upon  the  books. 
The  words  of  the  Lord  and  of  his  apostles  were 
not  treasured  more  devoutly,  because  suddenly  it 
was  found  that  they  contained  great  cosmological 
mysteries,  and  solemn  warnings  against  the  views 
of  the  false  teachers.  For  a  long  time  the  reliance 
upon  oral  tradition  had  been  weakening,  and  the 
books  had  been  coming  into  greater  and  greater 
prominence.  The  apostles  had  always  been 
looked  upon  as  the  founders  of  Christianity,  and 
to  make  their  authority  literary  did  not  imply 
any  startlingly  new  estimate  of  the  books,  or  of 
their  authors.  What  was  new  was  the  rejection 
of  a  great  mass  of  literature,  that  hitherto  had 
been  accepted  with  all  the  devotion  and  reverence 
attaching  to  an  apostolic  writing.  For  a  long  time 
writers  on  the  canon  contented  themselves  with 
an  investigation  into  the  history  of  the  accepted 
books,  and  by  showing  that  these  books  were 
considered  sacred  and  authoritative  long  before 


246  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

a  definite  collection  was  made,  they  endeavored 
to  prove  the  existence  of  a  New  Testament  from 
the  very  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 

This  is  an  extremely  inadequate  treatment  of 
the  subject.  It  is  possible  to  show  that  scores 
upon  scores  of  other  books  were  also  regarded  as 
sacred  and  authoritative.  The  innovation  in  the 
formation  of  a  New  Testament  is  not  to  be  looked 
for  in  any  peculiar  sanctity  attaching  to  inspired 
and  apostolic  books.  The  church  did  not  enun- 
ciate a  new  theory  when  it  declared  that  the 
writings  of  the  apostles  were  the  ground  of 
authority.  Even  the  Gnostics  admitted  this. 
No  doubt  there  had  been  much  uncertainty 
among  more  intelligent  Christians  for  some  time 
as  to  the  genuineness  of  many  books  that  bore 
the  name  of  apostles.  It  took  several  decrees  to 
give  the  Epistle  of  Hebrews  its  Pauline  authority. 
Some  uncertainty  must  have  existed  as  to  the 
Johannine  authorship  of  the  Apocalypse.  Mark 
had  to  be  made  apostolic  by  an  appeal  to  oral 
tradition.  The  exaltation  of  these  books  over 
many  others  that  claimed  apostles  for  their  au- 
thors, and  the  drawing  of  a  sharp  line  between 
them  that  could  not  be  passed,  was  the  new  step 
that  was  taken  when  the  canon  was  formed. 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  247 

Another  new  thing  was  the  silencing  of  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  definitely  and  finally.  Up  to 
this  time  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  pro- 
duction of  new  books  by  one  who  possessed 
the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  If  the  statement  of  the 
Fragmentist  be  true  that  Hermas  wrote  the 
Shepherd  "  very  recently  in  our  time,"  then 
one  of  the  most  highly  prized  of  all  the  Chris- 
tian books  was  a  modern  production.  To  be 
sure  no  new  thing  was  said,  when  it  was  asserted 
that  all  the  books  in  the  list  of  the  Fragmentist 
were  written  "  under  one  leading  Spirit."  They, 
and  many  more,  were  believed  to  be  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  might  still 
be  books  produced  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
same  "  leading "  Power.  Nor  did  the  church 
assert  anything  new  when  she  declared  that  in 
these  books  there  was  "  no  difference  as  regards 
the  faith  of  believers."  All  Christians  took  it  for 
granted  that  the  inspired  books  contained  no  con- 
tradictions. This  was  just  what  was  startling 
in  the  speculations  of  the  Gnostics.  The  church 
was  dividing  on  the  basis  of  books  that  had 
been  written  under  the  guidance  of  "  one  lead- 
ing Spirit."  How  was  this  possible?  Could  it 
be  the  books  were  not  a  unit?     No  hierarchy 


248  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

could  admit  this.  The  church  seemed  to  be 
taking  a  firm  stand  when  she  said  that  the 
conclusions  drawn  were  false. 

In  the  third  new  step  her  ground  was  not  so 
firm.  She  took  it  for  granted  that  the  docu- 
ments contained  a  system  of  theology.  If  they 
were  written  under  ''  one  leading  Spirit,"  she 
thought,  they  must  contain,  at  least  by  inference, 
a  single  and  final  theory  of  the  universe.  From 
the  beginning  Greek  thought  had  been  endeavor- 
ing to  find  unity  in  the  cosmos,  by  reducing  it  to 
a  single  substance  or  idea.  Thales  had  said  it 
was  water ;  Anaximander  had  called  it  "  the  un- 
changeable " ;  Anaximenes  had  declared  it  was 
air;  Heraclitus  had  found  his  explanation  in 
becoming;  and  Xenophenes  had  found  his  in 
being.  In  this  struggle  for  simplicity  Greek 
speculation  had  become  very  complex.  The 
Greek  thinkers  who  came  to  the  church  could  not 
leave  their  nature  behind  them,  and  so  they 
threw  themselves,  with  all  the  eagerness  of  that 
wonderful  people,  into  the  task  of  finding  the 
Christian  explanation  of  the  universe.  Thus  was 
born  Gnosticism,  or  the  Christian  hunt  for 
knowledge. 

Previous   to   this   effort,   the   energies   of   the 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  249 

church  had  been  given  to  the  reaHzation  of  a  holy 
hfe.  She  did  not  now  deny  the  assumption  of 
the  Gnostics  that  her  books  contained  a  cosmo- 
logical  explanation  of  the  universe,  nor  did  she 
deny  their  genuinely  Greek  assumption  that  the 
'*  holy  life  "  was  the  one  that  possessed  the  true 
knowledge.  She  took  the  position  that  the  regu- 
larly ordained  officers  of  the  church  were  the 
only  ones  who  had  the  power  to  obtain  this 
''  knowledge,"  and  she  commanded  those  officers 
to  find  it  as  soon  as  possible.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  enlarge  on  the  results  of  this  assumption  that 
the  Christian  writings  contained  a  single  and 
consistent  theological  system.  Its  echoes  are  in 
history.  The  departure  from  the  primitive  be- 
lief that  whatever  inspires  is  inspired,  and  that 
the  books  were  intended  to  give  us  inspiration 
and  not  theology,  has  not  accomplished  its  pur- 
pose in  unifying  the  church.  The  Bible  may  be 
a  theological  unit,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  every 
speculative  vagary  in  creation  appeals  to  it,  from 
polygamy  with  its  reference  to  the  patriarchs 
and  Christadelphianism  with  its  friendliness  for 
Daniel,  to  the  dreamy  Millenarianism  that  loves 
the  Apocalypse  and  the  devout  Divine  healing  that 
appeals  to  nearly  every  page  of  the  Gospels. 


250  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

If  we  take  the  third  step,  taken  by  the  church 
at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  we  can  hardly 
avoid  taking  the  fourth,  the  most  serious  of  all. 
If  we  declare  that  the  Christian  Scriptures  con- 
tain a  theological  system,  we  must  withold  them 
from  the  people.  If  our  desire  for  unity  leads  us 
to  the  assertion  that  the  books  are  an  absolute 
homogeneity,  despite  the  fact  that  every  phase  of 
thought  and  opinion  is  able  to  appeal  to  them, 
we  must  centralize  the  interpreting  power  too, 
and  instead  of  allowing  people  to  go  to  the 
books  with  a  mind  that  is  a  tabula  rasa,  we 
must  either  tell  them  what  they  are  compelled 
to  find  there,  or  we  must  take  the  books  away 
from  them.  In  all  this  matter  the  Catholic 
Church  has  been  the  one  form  of  Christianity 
that  can  point  to  an  absolutely  consistent  record. 
That  church  has  kept  the  books  from  the  com- 
mon people.  The  average  Christian,  she  says, 
is  not  able  to  find  the  deep  and  underlying  unity 
that  pervades  the  canon.  It  would  seem,  if  there 
is  such  a  unity,  that  she  is  right.  Her  strength 
to  this  day  is  in  the  fact  that  she  can  point  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Protestant  denominations, 
and  say,  "  They  all  appeal  to  the  Scriptures ;  do 
you  think  they  understand  them?  '■ 


THE    PROCESS    REVIEWED  25 1 

I  have  said  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  the 
only  form  of  Christianity  that  has  been  con- 
sistent. This  is  not  entirely  correct.  The  church 
that  said,  "  Whatever  inspires  is  inspired,"  was 
much  nearer  the  truth,  and  was  consistent  as  well. 
It  was  another  kind  of  consistency — consistency 
of  knowledge,  not  of  life — that  was  striven  for 
when  the  decree  went  out,  ''  I  am  the  heir  of 
the  apostles!"  From  that  time  on  the  docu- 
ments, instead  of  being  productions  of  the  Spirit, 
for  the  spiritual  edification  of  the  different  assem- 
blies, were  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  legislative 
enactments,  that  were  thereafter  to  form  the 
basis  of  canon  law. 


XII 


CONCLUSIONS 


XII 


THE  facts  brought  out  in  our  investigation 
are  revolutionary  only  in  their  applica- 
tion to  a  certain  conception  of  inspiration.  The 
value  and  authenticity  of  the  books  contained  in 
our  New  Testament  are  by  no  means  injured  by 
the  fact  that  they  were  arbitrarily  selected,  and 
bound  up  in  a  single  volume  by  the  decrees  of  a 
hierarchy.  We  can  even  conclude  that  the  best 
of  early  Christian  literature  was  preserved  for 
us  by  this  process,  and  so  feel  grateful.  Still,  the 
idea  of  a  sharp  line  of  demarcation,  separating 
the  age  of  inspiration  from  all  after-centuries, 
receives  a  decided  shock  from  the  facts  we  have 
adduced  in  the  preceding  pages.  Protestantism 
has  always  turned  the  New  Testament  on  the 
hierarchy,  as  a  most  effective  weapon.  Scholar- 
ship is  just  beginning  to  turn  the  New  Testament 
on  Protestantism.  We  are  to  learn  in  the  years 
to  come  that  a  "  New  Testament  Church  "  is  a 
church  without  a  New  Testament.  The  boun- 
dary must  fall.  The  first  century  must  take  its 
place  with  the  others.     The  age  of  the  apostles 

255 


256  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

must  become  part  of  the  great,  continuous,  unbro- 
ken plan  of  God. 

A  very  interesting  comparison  might  be  made 
between  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the 
Epistle  of  Barnabas,  both  products  of  the  anti- 
Jewish  apologetic  of  the  early  church.  The 
favorite  part  of  the  Old  Testament  for  the  writer 
of  Hebrews  is  the  Pentateuch,  while  the  writer  of 
Barnabas  is  attracted  much  more  by  the  Prophets 
and  the  Psalms.  The  former,  looking  with  envy 
on  the  ecclesiastical  claims  and  prerogatives  of 
Judaism,  and  realizing  that  Christ  is  not  of 
Aaron's  line,  sets  up  the  counter  claim  that  he 
is  a  High  Priest  according  to  the  order  of  Mel- 
chisedek.  This  peculiar  method  of  defending 
Jesus  by  tracing  his  authority  back  to  a  shadowy 
figure  of  the  Old  Testament  makes  no  appeal 
whatever  to  our  modern  religious  consciousness. 
A  far  higher  conception  is  to  be  found  in  the 
sixteenth  chapter  of  Barnabas,  where  the  writer 
refers  to  the  destruction  of  the  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem, declaring  that  God  has  found  another  tem- 
ple. This  temple,  he  declares,  is  the  Christian, 
in  whom  "  God  truly  dwells."  '*  How?  By  his 
word  of  faith;  by  the  calling  of  his  promise; 
by  the  wisdom  of  his  statutes ;  by  the  commands 


CONCLUSIONS  257 

of  his  teaching;  he  himself  prophesying  in  us; 
he  himself  dwelling  in  us."  The  sublime  declara- 
tion of  the  abolition  of  the  Jewish  sacrifices,  to 
be  found  in  the  second  and  third  chapters  of 
Barnabas,  is  almost  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  great  philosophy  of  history  of  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Hebrews. 

It  is  needless  to  go  deeper  into  this  comparison. 
Both  epistles  contain  much  that  sounds  strange 
to  our  ears.  The  long  controversy  in  Hebrews, 
which  takes  so  much  account  of  the  formal  claims 
of  Judaism,  trying  to  give  Christianity  a  higher 
ritual,  making  Christ  both  its  priest  and  its  vic- 
tim, summing  up  in  his  person  a  rival  sacrificial 
system,  is  less  in  accord  with  the  thought  of  our 
day  than  the  more  spiritual  idea  of  Barnabas. 
If  the  reader  will  take  both  epistles  and  carefully 
compare  them,  trying  to  divest  himself  of  the 
training  and  study  that  has  made  him  familiar 
with  one  and  unfamiliar  with  the  other,  and  will 
ask,  "  What  would  have  been  the  result  if  Barna- 
bas had  been  included  and  Hebrews  left  out?" 
he  will,  in  all  probability,  reach  the  conclusion 
that  the  effects  to  Christianity,  and  the  loss,  would 
not  have  been  serious. 

Eusebius  says  of  Dionysius  of  Corinth,  "  He 

R 


258  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

makes  mention  also  of  Clement's  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  showing  that  it  has  been  the  custom 
from  the  beginning  to  read  it  in  the  church."  ^  It 
would  not  be  harmful  to  read  it  to-day.  It  con- 
tains splendid  declarations.  "  If  a  man  be  faith- 
ful; if  he  be  powerful  in  the  utterance  of  knowl- 
edge; if  he  be  wise  in  weighing  words;  if  he  be 
pure  in  all  his  deeds ;  yet  the  more  he  seems  to  be 
superior  to  others,  the  more  humble-minded 
ought  he  to  be,  and  to  seek  the  common  good  " 
(chap.  48).  ''  How  blessed  and  wonderful,  breth- 
ren, are  the  gifts  of  God!  Life  in  immortality, 
splendor  in  righteousness,  truth  in  perfect  liberty, 
faith  in  assurance,  self-control  in  holiness ! " 
(Chap.  35.)  ''There  is  nothing  base,  nothing 
arrogant  in  love.  Love  admits  of  no  schism. 
Love  gives  rise  to  no  sedition  "  (chap.  49).  What 
could  be  better  for  our  modern  Gnostics  than  this : 
"  Consider,  brethren,  that  the  greater  knowledge 
that  has  been  vouchsafed  to  us,  the  greater  also 
the  danger  to  which  we  are  exposed  "  (chap.  41 ). 
That  strife  cannot  exist  between  two  good  men 
(chap.  45),  is  decidedly  wholesome  doctrine.  The 
passion  of  the  first  century  breathes  in  this  decla- 
ration in  regard  to  Christ :  "  By  him  our  foolish 

iH.  E.,  IV.,  23  :   II. 


CONCLUSIONS  259 

and  darkened  understanding  blossoms  up  anew 
toward  his  marvelous  light"  (chap.  36).  The 
hymn  of  harmony  in  nature  (chap.  20),  the 
figures  of  resurrection  (chap.  24),  the  declara- 
tion of  justification  by  faith  (chap.  32),  and 
the  massing  of  Hebrew  and  Christian  history  to 
show  the  evil  effects  of  envy  (chap.  4,  5),  are  all 
splendid  passages.  Had  this  epistle  been  included 
in  our  New  Testament  it  would  have  been  used 
far  more  frequently,  particularly  among  our  di- 
viding and  multiplying  Protestant  sects,  as  a 
plea  for  harmony  and  unity,  than  some  books 
contained  in  the  canon. 

It  is  difhcult  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  a  past 
age,  and  so  appreciate  its  literature,  but  the  true 
critic  cannot  shrink  from  the  effort.  In  propor- 
tion to  our  success  in  this  task,  in  that  proportion 
will  the  beauty  and  strength  of  books  like  the 
Didache  grow  upon  us,  and  we  shall  even  enter 
into  the  spirit  of  the  apocalyptic  literature,  with 
its  glorification  of  martyrdom,  and  its  sense  of  the 
heroic.  As  we  read  it  to-day  it  has  a  far-off  sound, 
mainly  because  it  is  unfamiliar  to  our  ears.  If  we 
had  heard  its  words  since  childhood,  if  it  had  been 
read  and  reverenced  in  the  place  of  worship  and 
at  the  family  altar,  many  of  its  mysterious  and 


26o  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

unmeaning  phrases  would  come  to  us  freighted 
with  the  lessons  of  life  and  experience. 

This  is  particularly  true  of  the  Shepherd  of 
Hernias.  He  who  reads  it  sympathetically  will 
find  underneath  its  strange  imagery  many  re- 
markable and  inspiring  utterances.  To  be  sure 
it  can  scarcely  be  placed  on  a  level  with  the 
Apocalypse,  but  if  it  had  been  included  in  our 
New  Testament  no  one  would  think  of  ex- 
cluding it.  Those  who  allegorize  the  story  of 
the  temptation  of  Jesus,  who  find  a  mysterious 
lesson  in  his  vision  of  Satan,  ''  as  lightning,  fall- 
ing from  heaven,"  and  who  use  Paul's  experience 
of  being  "  caught  up  into  paradise,"  where  he 
heard  *'  unspeakable  words,"  as  an  inspiring  ex- 
ample of  religious  idealism,  would  doubtless  dis- 
cover in  this  old  allegory  many  a  precious  lesson 
of  elevating  and  transcendent  truth.  We  must 
reach  the  conclusion,  therefore,  not  that  the  New 
Testament  books  were  uninspired  writings,  but 
that  their  inspiration  will  suffer  no  hard  line  of 
separation  from  the  workings  of  God's  Spirit  in 
all  his  prophets,  apostles,  and  teachers,  through- 
out all  time.  Even  the  age  of  creed-formation 
was  not  without  its  "  word  of  witness,"  its  ''  open 
vision,"  had  it  been  willing  to  listen. 


CONCLUSIONS  261 

The  one  question  asked  concerning  a  book  by 
the  early  church  was  this,  **  Does  it  inspire?" 
This  question  was  changed,  in  later  years,  into 
another,  *' Is  it  inspired?"  The  two  questions 
were  one  to  primitive  Christianity,  and,  as  the 
Spirit  was  still  present  in  the  heart  of  the  believer, 
it  was  taken  for  granted  that  what  inspired  to  a 
better  life  to-day,  had  been  inspired  in  its  writing 
yesterday.  The  two  questions,  however,  became 
separated  in  the  Catholic  Church.  "  Is  it  in- 
spired ?  "  came  to  mean  many  things.  ''  Can  it 
be  traced  back  to  the  apostles?  "  ''  Will  it  help 
in  the  establishing  of  a  definite  body  of  dogma?  " 
"  Does  it  contain  any  passage  that  denies  the 
authority  of  the  church?  "  '*  Does  it  help  to  es- 
tablish the  principle  of  *  apostolic  succession'?" 
"  Above  all,  can  it  be  used  to  silence  the  confu- 
sion of  speculation,  to  hush  the  new  prophets,  and 
to  answer  the  arguments  of  that  radical  reformer, 
'  the  shipmaster  of  Pontus  '  ?  "  These  questions 
imply  altogether  a  different  interest  in  the  docu- 
ments from  that  which  attached  to  them  when 
they  were  used  solely  as  aids  to  devotion,  or  the 
repositories  of  the  truth  of  '*  the  ever-living 
Word." 

The  distinction  is  sharp  and  clear  between  the 


262  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

ecclesiastical  view  of  a  book  as  a  legal  document, 
and  the  devotional  conception  of  it  as  a  gift  of  the 
Spirit.  The  eyes  that  scan  the  pages  for  proof- 
texts  will  have  a  different  light  in  them  from 
those  that  read  for  the  purpose  of  spiritual  com- 
munion with  God.  The  letters  which  a  lover 
writes  to  his  sweetheart  do  not  sound  the  same 
when  they  are  taken  to  a  law-office,  to  play  a  part 
in  a  suit  for  *'  breach  of  promise."  The  expres- 
sions of  tenderness  and  the  glowing  terms  of 
affection  have  a  different  interest  attaching  to 
them,  when  they  are  scanned  by  the  sharp  eyes 
of  an  attorney.  They  are  love-letters  no  longer; 
the  same  words  are  there  but  they  sound 
like  totally  different  productions,  when  they  be- 
come the  ground  of  litigation,  instead  of  simple 
expressions  of  hope  and  affection. 

The  illustration  may  be  homely,  but  the  analogy 
is  true.  Just  such  a  change  came  over  the  use  of 
the  Christian  documents  in  the  second  century. 
They  became  the  ground  of  a  legal  contest  with 
the  heretics.  Formerly  they  were  read  with  feel- 
ings of  hope  and  tenderness;  now  they  were 
scrutinized  for  legal  subtleties.  When  the  hier- 
archy took  possession  of  them,  they  scarcely 
seemed  like  the  same  books.     Indeed,  they  never 


CONCLUSIONS  263 

again  were  the  same  books  until  Protestantism 
caused  their  resurrection  once  more.  To  the 
early  Christian  they  were  the  simple  and  living 
springs  of  inspiration,  the  vital  and  thrilling  mes- 
sage of  the  life  of  yesterday  to  the  life  of  to-day. 
They  throbbed  with  interest;  they  glowed  with 
love ;  they  flashed  with  commands ;  they  pictured 
the  ideal  life  in  terms  of  truth  and  beauty.  With 
the  formation  of  a  New  Testament  all  this  was 
changed,  and  the  interest  in  them  became  archaic 
and  deadened.  They  were  the  legal  documents  of 
an  inspired  age,  whose  height  of  truth  and 
revelation  was  past  and  gone,  never  to  be  realized 
again. 

That  the  echo  of  this  belief  is  still  in  the 
church,  we  need  scarcely  be  reminded.  The  ten- 
dency to  let  Christianity  evaporate  in  mere  ad- 
miration of  the  first  century,  or  in  dogmatic 
speculation  over  its  events,  is  still  with  us.  Dia- 
lectical skill,  the  subtleties  of  metaphysical  genius, 
the  penetrating  analysis  of  logic,  have  all  been 
turned  on  its  pages  in  an  effort  to  form  a  satis- 
factory theory  of  the  "  Atonement."  Artists 
have  pictured  on  canvas  its  tragic  and  pathetic 
features.  Poets  have  set  its  crowning  story  to 
rhythmic  cadence.     Schoolmen  have  discussed  its 


264  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

teachings  in  their  gatherings,  and  have  left  pon- 
derous tomes  to  gather  dust  in  monasteries.  The 
tendency  of  all  this  admiration  has  been  to  ob- 
scure the  New  Testament,  by  enveloping  it  more 
and  more  in  a  golden  haze,  that  soothed  the 
imagination,  satisfied  the  esthetic  sense,  de- 
lighted the  powers  of  reason,  but  failed  to  trans- 
form the  life.  That  the  New  Testament  is  not 
an  epic,  not  a  masterpiece,  not  a  dogma,  but  a 
**  voice  "  calling  to  a  larger  and  purer  life,  is  a 
conception  hard  to  establish  in  minds  that  have 
isolated  it,  and  lifted  it  to  a  region  of  lonely  and 
unattainable  grandeur. 

It  is  refreshing  to  find  a  slight  resistance  to 
this  tendency  in  the  second  century,  even  if  it 
did  come  from  men  of  little  culture  and  critical 
attainment.  While  the  church  was  being  over- 
awed by  men  who  found  Ogdoads  and  Tetrads 
in  her  documents,  it  is  pleasant  to  hear  the  Alogi 
asking,  "What  foolish  things  are  these?"  We 
can  almost  hear  them  say,  "  The  apostles  wrote 
their  books  to  direct  our  lives,  to  revise  our 
standards,  to  point  us  to  paths  of  righteousness, 
and  not  to  settle  silly  disputes  about  the  world- 
forming  Logos."  In  this  they  were  nearer 
the  truth  than  their  opponents.     Though  they 


CONCLUSIONS  265 

represent  the  attitude  of  the  uncritical  and  ethical 
Christian,  whose  mind  had  not  been  Hellenized, 
and  who  resented  the  tendency  to  take  the  docu- 
ments into  court,  their  significance  is  in  what  we 
can  see  back  of  them.  Much  more  numerous  than 
the  Alogi  must  have  been  the  great  body  of 
earnest  and  simple-minded  followers  of  the  Naza- 
rene,  to  whom  the  Christian  life  was  a  very  plain 
thing,  an  open  and  loving  testimony  to  the 
power  of  the  person  of  Christ,  and  to  whom  the 
documents  were  nothing  but  the  glowing  accounts 
of  the  doings  and  prophecies  of  certain  past  wit- 
nesses. They  were,  to  such  men,  merely  the 
literature  of  an  inspired  affection.  They  were 
read  with  no  regard  for  proof-texts,  with  no  ef- 
fort to  silence  opponents,  with  no  desire  to  find 
justification  for  a  Platonic  conception  of  the  crea- 
tion, but  merely  to  throw  light  on  present-day 
problems,  and  to  learn  about  Him  who  is  *'  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 

It  is  necessary  to  know  this,  in  order  to  see 
that  it  was  not  a  lower  estimate,  but  a  different 
estimate,  that  was  put  on  the  books,  when  a  New 
Testament  was  formed.  It  is  extremely  easy  to 
go  through  the  records  and  bring  forth  passages 
to  show  how  high  was  the  respect  and  reverence 


266  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

paid  to  the  documents  for  decades  and  genera- 
tions before  the  books  were  collected  and  equated. 
Though  their  words  might  be  changed  by  wander- 
ing prophets,  and  their  number  added  to  contin- 
ually by  ''  Spirit-bearing  men,"  they  were  still  the 
very  voice  and  message  of  God.  As  we  approach 
the  end  of  the  second  century,  when  the  church 
was  getting  adjusted  to  the  life  of  the  world,  the 
changes  must  have  been  slighter,  and  the  addi- 
tions fewer.  But  even  then,  the  Shepherd, 
written  "  in  our  time,"  could  sweep  over  the 
Western  Church  with  an  inspired  message  from 
on  high.  This  tendency  the  Catholic  Church 
could  only  conquer  by  claiming  a  continuance  of 
the  prophetic  gift,  and  then  by  confining  it  to  her 
own  appointed  teachers.  By  so  doing  she  thrust 
the  New  Testament  into  the  background,  and  has 
consistently  tried  to  keep  it  there.  By  limiting 
the  teaching  function,  and  confining  prophecy  to 
church  channels,  she  has  maintained  unbroken 
that  unity  which  she  achieved  so  many  cen- 
turies ago.  The  tremendous  advantage  this  gives 
her,  by  presenting  a  solid  doctrinal  front  to  the 
disorganized  mob  of  Protestant  sects,  is  seen 
every  day. 

Even  that  New  Testament,  whs^h  Protestantisni 


CONCLUSIONS  267 

has  used  so  effectually  in  the  interest  of  free- 
dom, was  furnished  her  by  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  inconsistency  of  her  attitude  has  been  shown 
again  and  again  by  men  like  Newman,  as  well  as 
by  her  own  sons  of  freedom,  who  have  striven  for 
a  larger  liberty.  That  she  has  found  in  the  New 
Testament  the  same  kind  of  ''  authority  "  sought 
by  all  devout  Catholics,  she  has  been  very  slow 
to  learn.  That,  having  started  on  the  path  of 
liberty,  she  can  never  go  back  again,  is  a  lesson 
that  the  centuries  are  slowly  forcing  upon  her 
consciousness.  However  much  she  may  regret 
its  evil  effects,  its  twists  and  turns,  its  occasional 
anarchy  and  frequent  insubordination,  it  cannot 
be  put  down  any  more  by  the  arbitrary  arm  of 
authority,  or  even  by  the  merciless  logic  that 
forges  its  weapons  from  a  New  Testament  that 
has  been  sealed  and  closed  forever.  To  be  sure, 
we  must  grant  men  the  right  to  speculate,  and  to 
seek  philosophical  unity  of  thought  in  their  in- 
terpretation of  the  universe.  To  be  sure,  we  can- 
not avoid  their  forming  theories  as  to  the  relation 
of  this  thought  to  the  early  documents  of  our 
Christian  inheritance.  But  to  make  these  docu- 
ments stand  sponsor  for  the  science  or  the  meta- 
physics   of   any    age,    whether    of    the    time    of 


268  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Irenaeus  or  Huxley,  is  to  pervert  them  to  unjust 
and  illegal  uses. 

The  question  naturally  arises  as  to  the  relia- 
bility of  a  New  Testament  formed  in  the  manner 
we  have  stated.  We  have  said  that  one  of  the 
questions  involved  in  canonicity  was  this,  "  Can  it 
be  traced  back  to  the  apostles?  "  How  far  then 
can  we  trust  the  witness  of  the  men  of  the  second 
century,  that  the  documents  they  have  handed 
down  to  us  are  of  ancient  date  and  apostolic  sanc- 
tion? To  this  the  careful  student  will  make  a 
somewhat  cautious  reply.  Self-deception  is  one 
of  the  most  common  experiences  in  times  of  re- 
ligious controversy.  To  tell  whether  men  are 
entirely  sincere  and  honest  at  such  times  is  an 
exceedingly  difficult  matter.  However,  one  is 
forced  to  say  that  in  general  the  men  who  formed 
our  New  Testament  thought  they  were  getting 
together  apostolic  documents.  This  may  have 
been  because  those  documents  taught  doctrines 
they  wanted  to  enforce.  It  may  have  been  be- 
cause they  lacked  critical  insight.  It  may  have 
been  because  they  were  ignorant  of  the  history 
of  the  documents.  Whatever  the  reason,  the  fact 
remains.  Despite  the  bitterness  of  the  contro- 
versy, and  the  unworthiness  of  some  of  its  objects, 


CONCLUSIONS  269 

we  can  see  in  the  background  of  the  thought  of 
the  CathoHc  Fathers  a  genuine  desire  to  get  at 
the  teaching  of  the  apostles.  The  methods  they 
employed  were  often  unworthy,  and  the  sense  of 
literary  honor  and  integrity  is  scarcely  up  to 
modern  standards,  but  the  purpose  seems  genuine. 
Let  us  take  a  concrete  case  of  what  we  mean. 
Tertullian,  for  example,  sends  his  readers  to  the 
churches  of  Corinth,  Philippi,  etc.,  for  the  "  origi- 
nal autographs "  of  Paul's  Epistles.  Did  he 
really  think  they  were  to  be  found  there?  If  so 
simple-minded,  the  reader  may  ask,  how  can  we 
trust  his  judgment  in  the  difficult  problems  of 
literary  authorship  and  documentary  authen- 
ticity? Perhaps  it  was  just  a  rhetorical  exaggera- 
tion! If  so,  where  are  we  to  draw  the  line  be- 
tween his  flourishes  of  rhetoric,  and  the  real 
groundwork  of  fact  in  his  statements  in  regard 
to  the  canonical  books?  Worst  of  all,  he  may 
have  known  that  he  was  endeavoring  to  silence 
his  opponents  by  a  sort  of  imaginary  "  pious 
fraud."  In  any  case  the  dilemma  is  not  pleasant 
and  is  sufficient  to  make  us  cautious  in  accepting 
unchallenged  our  sources  of  information.  No 
investigation  into  the  tendencies  of  this  period 
will  be  of  any  value  that  does  not  transcend  the 


270  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Catholic  calendar  of  "  saints."  But,  when  all 
deductions  have  been  made,  we  will  be  obliged  to 
admit  certain  facts. 

There  were  four  Gospels  in  general  use  in  the 
Western  Church  toward  the  end  of  the  second 
century,  and  in  that  section  they  occupied  a  decided 
preeminence  over  all  other  forms  of  the  gospel 
narrative.  In  other  regions  this  was  not  the  case. 
The  Gospel  according  to  Peter,  the  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  the  Hebrews,  the  Gospel  according 
to  the  Egyptians,  and  other  forms  of  the  narra- 
tive, some  of  them  constructed  to  advance  a  par- 
ticular tendency  or  interest,  were  read  at  the  serv- 
ices as  Scripture,  and  were  reverenced  by  scholars, 
in  other  parts  of  the  world.  However,  it  is  fairly 
certain  that  our  four  Gospels,  if  they  did  not  fur- 
nish the  basis  of  these  books,  at  least  contain 
nearly  all  that  was  of  any  essential  value  in  them. 
The  fragment  discovered  of  the  Gospel  of  Peter 
by  the  French  Archaeological  Mission,  in  Akh- 
mim,  in  the  year  1885,  would  not  lead  us  to  put 
a  very  high  estimate  on  that  form  of  the  narra- 
tive. It  seems  to  draw  on  our  four  Gospels 
entirely  as  its  sources.  The  fragments  of  the  Gos- 
pel according  to  the  Hebrews  preserved  by  Ori- 
gen,  Eusebius,  and  Jerome,  lead  us  to  a  some- 


CONCLUSIONS  271 

what  higher  regard  for  this  document.  However, 
it  is  useless  to  carry  on  a  speculation  in  the  dark. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  as  far  as  our  knowledge  goes 
we  have  handed  down  to  us  nearly  all  the  gospel 
tradition  that  was  of  any  value,  that  existed  about 
the  year  a.  d.  i  50.  The  documents  used  by  Luke, 
the  sources  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  and  all  the 
phases  of  the  "  Synoptic  Problem,"  do  not  come 
within  the  scope  of  our  study.  One  old  tradition 
alone  should  make  us  cautious.  According  to  a 
tradition  preserved  in  a  very  early  manuscript 
(Codex  D,  at  Luke  6:4),  Jesus  one  day  saw  a 
man  working  on  the  Sabbath,  and  said,  "  If  thou 
knowest  what  thou  doest,  thou  art  blessed;  but  if 
thou  knowest  not,  thou  art  accursed."  A  nobler 
declaration  on  a  very  vexing  problem  cannot  be 
found  in  any  age,  or  in  any  literature. 

When  we  turn  to  the  book  of  the  Acts  it  is 
difficult  to  make  statements  as  clear  and  as  confi- 
dent. That  this  book  was  written  by  the  same 
author  as  the  Gospel  of  Luke  is  seldom  ques- 
tioned. That  it  deserves  a  place  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, not  alone  for  its  antiquity,  but  for  its 
inspiring  simplicity  and  grandeur,  no  one  will 
deny.  This  is  not  the  question.  How  about  the 
other  books  of  "  Acts  "  ?     The  Acts  of  Paul,  of 


272  FORMATION   OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

Peter,  of  John,  of  Thomas,  of  Andrew,  and  of 
Phihp,  have  all  survived  in  part.  The  rest  have 
been  lost.  Some  of  these  are  older  than  books 
that  found  a  way  into  the  canon.  They  reflect 
the  ideal  of  popular  piety.  They  represent  the  men 
of  God  as  converters  of  the  heathen,  as  ascetics, 
as  workers  of  miracles,  as  martyrs.  In  fact 
they  are  very  sweeping  in  their  asceticism,  and 
exalt  entire  continence.  They  are  products  of  the 
dying  enthusiasm  of  the  early  church,  and  beyond 
a  doubt  were  excluded  from  the  canon,  not  so 
much  because  of  lack  of  apostolic  authorship, 
as  because  they  lent  such  decided  aid  to  Montan- 
ism.  Here  again  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  im- 
possible problem  of  transporting  ourselves  into  the 
spirit  of  another  time.  In  all  probability,  if  these 
books  had  been  bound  up  with  our  New  Testa- 
ment, they  would  be  found  helpful  to-day.  With 
the  lost  books  of  "  Acts  "  much  may  have  gone 
that  was  genuinely  inspiring  and  noble.  We 
must  avoid  the  two  extremes  of  a  tendency  to 
idealize  them,  or  of  a  hasty  conclusion  that  they 
were  utterly  worthless. 

This  is  still  more  true  of  the  Apocalypse.  That 
not  one  of  all  the  books  of  vision,  extant  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century,  was  worthy  a 


CONCLUSIONS  273 

place  in  the  New  Testament,  implies  a  confidence 
in  the  judgment  of  the  Catholic  Fathers  that  only 
the  most  devout  adherent  of  the  hierarchy  can 
give.  A  portion  of  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter  was 
discovered  at  the  same  time  that  the  fragment  of 
the  Gospel  was  found.  It  contains  the  end  of  a 
prophecy  of  Jesus  about  the  "  last  times,"  a 
vision  of  the  state  of  the  blessed,  and  a  long  de- 
scription of  the  torments  of  various  kinds  of 
sinners.  The  thought  of  the  second  century  must 
have  been  full  of  these  Orphic  visions  of  heaven 
and  hell.  Here,  again,  we  are  in  touch  with  the 
ideal  of  popular  piety.  The  new  prophets  were 
far  more  highly  honored  by  the  people  than  their 
bishops.  The  Third  Epistle  of  John  urges  its 
readers  not  to  despise  the  church  officials,  because 
they  are  just  as  much  deserving  of  respect  as  the 
prophets  and  teachers.  It  is  easy  to  see  why  the 
Catholic  Fathers  were  drawn  to  the  books  with  an 
ecclesiastical  tendency,  rather  than  toward  the 
more  popular  records  of  visions.  The  strife  be- 
tween church  officials  and  prophets  began  very 
early  in  Christianity.  The  New  Testament  was 
formed  during  a  complete  triumph  of  the  former. 
Naturally  it  turned  away  from  the  literature  of 
the  latter.  How  wide  and  how  authoritative  this 
s 


2  74  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

literature  was,  we  can  only  surmise.  It  must  have 
been  great.  The  Epistle  of  Jude  uses  the  Book  of 
Enoch  and  the  Ascension  of  Moses  as  Scripture. 
Barnabas  uses  the  Apocalypse  of  Ezra.  Hermas 
quotes  the  prophecy  of  Eldad  and  Medad.  Papias 
quotes  a  text  from  the  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  as 
a  saying  of  Jesus.  The  whole  Jewish  apocalyptic 
literature  was  used  by  Christians  as  canonical  and 
authoritative.  To  this  must  be  added  numberless 
adaptations,  and  new  creations. 

All  this  was  swept  away  by  the  formers  of  the 
New  Testament.  We  cannot  picture  them  ex- 
amining the  books  with  absolute  critical  candor, 
or  spending  much  time  over  matters  of  authen- 
ticity. In  Alexandria,  where  the  nearest  attempt 
was  made  at  scientific  scrutiny,  we  have  seen  how 
wide  was  the  canon  of  authority  of  the  great 
Fathers  of  the  church.  One  who  reads  carefully 
the  writings  of  Clement  and  Origen  will  find  a 
presumption  strongly  in  favor  of  much  that  was 
excluded  from  our  New  Testament. 

A  final  question  remains.  "  What,  then,  is  the 
secret  of  the  remarkable  influence  and  history  of 
the  New  Testament? "  The  question  can  be  an- 
swered in  one  word — *' Christ!"  He  is  the 
treasure  hid  in  the  field.     He  gives  the  book  its 


CONCLUSIONS  275 

value.  It  is  because  the  world  has  found  him 
there,  that  it  is  willing  to  go  and  sell  every  other 
book,  and  buy  that  book.  The  most  devout  ad- 
herent of  the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  never 
makes  the  mistake  of  valuing  every  pebble  on  its 
pages  as  highly  as  the  Pearl  of  Great  Price.  For 
one  to  ask,  "  How  much  would  the  New  Testa- 
ment be  worth  if  Christ  were  left  out  of  it?" 
is  tantamount  to  asking,  ''  What  would  you  give 
for  the  Sistine  Madonna  without  the  canvas?" 
We  have  no  objection  to  the  frame  put  on  the 
picture  by  devout  men  of  the  first  century.  We 
are  even  grateful  for  the  care  and  reverence,  mis- 
taken though  it  sometimes  was,  that  tried  to  pre- 
serve it.  We  only  insist  that  the  value  is  to  be 
found  in  the  sacred  and  inspiring  image,  and  not 
in  the  frame. 

That  the  New  Testament  gives  us  a  true  and 
reliable  picture  of  the  spirit  and  character  of 
Christ  can  hardly  be  doubted.  The  one  great 
truth  toward  which  the  ages  are  working  is  that 
it  is  the  same  Spirit,  acting  on  our  hearts,  that 
enables  us  to  recognize  the  divine  image  when  we 
see  it  in  the  book.  Therefore,  no  sharp  line  is 
to  be  drawn  between  the  New  Testament  times 
and  ours,  save  that  which  existed  between  the 


276  FORMATION    OF    NEW    TESTAMENT 

character  of  Christ,  and  its  unreaHzed  expression 
in  the  church  that  now  bears  his  name.  That  this 
is  vast  no  one  can  deny.  That  the  pages  that  tell 
us  of  Christ  constitute  the  supreme  inheritance 
of  all  time,  few  will  dispute.  To  free  those  pages 
from  a  perfunctory  reverence,  and  help  center 
the  thought  and  hope  of  Christendom  on  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  we  hope  will  be  the  result  of 
our  study. 


INDEX 


Acts  of  the  Apostles,  162,  271,  272. 

Acts  of  the  Martyrs  of  Scillis,  60. 

Adoptionism,  loi,  114. 

Alogi,  the  :  not  an  organized  effort, 
122;  so  named  by  Epiphanius,  113  ; 
members  of,  122  ;  church  Fathers 
and  the,  123,  124;  position  of,  113- 
115,  119;  strength  of,  116,  122;  re- 
veal the  attitude  of  early  Chris- 
tians toward  philosophy,  116  ; 
represent  the  first  effort  toward 
outward  unity  in  the  church,  121. 

Anaximander,  240. 

Aneximenes,  248. 

Apocalypses,  34,  35,  272-274. 

Apostolic  Fathers,  39. 

Apostolic  succession,  212. 

Aristotle,  loi. 

Athanasius,  iz8,  163. 

Augustine,  139. 

Barnabas,  epistle  of,  256-258. 

Basilides  :  disciple  of  Glaucius,  83  ; 
teacher  in  Alexandria,  83 ;  char- 
acter of,  85  ;  influence  of,  85 ; 
authority  of,  83  ;  writings  of,  83  ; 
methods  used  by,  84. 

Catholicism:  development  of,  159; 
the  principle  of,  164,  165,  192 ;  its 
effect  upon  the  masses,  165 ;  form 
of  Christianity  that  is  consistent, 
251. 

Canon  :  meaning  of  the  term,  24 ; 
forces  that  resulted  in  the,  99,  101, 
102,  167;  beginning  of  formation 
of>  25,  51,  68-70 ;  first  decision  in 


formation  of,  arbitrary,  103 ;  rela- 
tion of  New  Testament  to  the  Old 
Testament  involved  in  formation 
of  a,  132,  138 ;  limits  of,  not  found 
at  once,  103;  Marcion's,  127,  134, 
135 ;  Marcion's  motives  for  form- 
ing a  closed,  134 ;  Clement  of 
Alexandria's,  63-65 ;  New  Testa- 
ment church  opposed  to  the,  160, 
169  ;  effect  on  Christians  of  a 
closed,  104,  160,  165,  169,  232 ;  con- 
tent of,  176  ;  inclusion  of  Acts  in 
the,  212 ;  methods  used  in,  and 
motives  that  led  to  the  formation 
of  the,  19-22,  25,  135,  185,  204-206, 
213,  246  ;  spirit  of  those  who  closed 
the,  27,  128,  189,  190,  268,  269; 
Christians  required  to  accept  the, 
191 ;  value  of  books  included  in 
the,  255,  274-276. 

Cerinthus,  114. 

Christians,  the  early  :  character  of, 
37,  41,  42,  74 ;  expectations  of,  40, 
41  ;  effect  of  decline  of  their  ex- 
pectations, 70 ;  standard  of  con- 
duct, 237;  their  use  of  Christian 
literature,  41 ;  textual  interpreta- 
tion used  by,  41 ;  their  conception 
of  inspiration,  69  ;  scholars  among 
the,  42 ;  their  opinion  of  specula- 
tion, 100, 112,  116, 119  ;  persecution 

of,  37.  71- 
Christian  consciousness :  definition 
of  the  term,  17;  formation  of  the 
canon  and,  17,  18,  206;  in  the 
Alogi,  of  the  second  century  seen, 
113-124. 

277 


21% 


INDEX 


Christian  philosophy  ;  beginning  of, 

42,  43,   72,  83-85 ;  pioneers  of,  42, 

43,  66,  67,  71,  81,  86  ;  methods  used 
in,  43,  73,  88-90 ;  Clenrjent's  defense 
of,  100,  112  ;  spirit  of  those  who  de- 
fended, 74,  75  ;  effect  on  Chris- 
tianity of,  75,  76,  79,  80,  117; 
refused  promulgation,  115;  with- 
in the  church,  115;  denounced 
by  Fathers,  118,  123  ;  triumph  of, 
118. 

Church  authority,  shown  in  Mura- 
torian  fragment,  224,  230. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  :  a  Gnostic, 
62,  81 ;  head  of  catechetical  school, 
62  ;  teacher  of  mysteries,  81 ;  con- 
structs systematic  theology,  63 ; 
early  Christian  literature  used  by, 
61-65,  83 ;  defends  Christian  phi- 
losophy, 100, 112  ;  writings  of,  pre- 
served, 82. 

Clement  :  first  epistle  of,  38,  64 ; 
second  epistle  of,  38,  39. 

Commands  of  the  Lord  :  what  they 
were,  34 ;  fixed  in  documents,  35, 
37>  38 ;  gathered  by  Papias,  36 ; 
the  Didache  and,  37,  38 ;  as  a 
source  of  authority,  40. 

Creed :  first  step  in  the  direction  of 
formation,  98;  forces  that  resulted 
in,  98,  99;  Platonic  philosophy 
and,  101  ;  stages  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Apostles',  98,  178;  in- 
sistence upon,  167 ;  essence  of 
Christianity  fixed  in  a,  192. 

De  Aleatoribus,  47. 

Diatessaron :  a  Gospel,  52;  Tatian, 
author  of,  51 ;  character  of,  51,  53  ; 
influence  of,  51,  54  ;  arbitrary  re- 
jection of,  53 ;  early  documents 
and  the,  61. 

Didache :  the  teaching  of  the  Lord 
through  the  apostles,  37  ;  an  effort 
to  meet  a  demand  of  the  church 


38;  Clement  quotes  from,  65;  Dia- 
tessaron and  the,  61 ;  among  the 
first  Christian  writings,  130. 

Docetism,  51,  114. 

Doctrine  of  Addaei,  53. 

Dionysius,  229. 

Early  Christian  literature  :  composi- 
tion of,  14,  16-18,  34,  64,  207,  208, 
210;  authority  of,  15,  17,  22,  21,  25^ 
52,  70  ;  commands  of  the  Lord  in, 
35>  37  >■  Apostolic  Fathers'  use  of, 
39;  Clement  of  Alexandria's 
opinion  of,  63-65 ;  new  use  of,  25, 
26,  73,  83-85,  91,  102,  105;  Mar- 
cion's  attitude  toward,  130  ;  sifting 
of,  23,  24,  59,  60,  loi,  241 ;  suppres- 
sion of,  28,  59,  113,  213  ;  inspiration 
of,  261. 

Egyptians,  Gospel  according  to  the  : 
written  in  the  interest  of  as- 
ceticism, 114,  270;  use  of,  in 
the  church,  189;  testimony  to 
early  Christian  documents ;  au- 
thority of  the,  61,  62 ;  Clement's 
use  of,  65. 

Encratites,  61, 

Epiphanius :  polemics  of,  28;  Gnos- 
tics and,  82  ;  Alogi  and,  114,  116; 
Marcionites  and,  135,  141. 

Eusebius,  58,  59. 

Gnostics  :  pioneers  of,  62,  81 ;  teach- 
ings of,  preserved,  81,  82  ;  position 
of,  loi,  102,  133,  118,  146;  gave 
Christianity  a  metaphysical  back- 
ground, 91 ;  schools,  power,  and 
influence  of,  97 ;  bridge  from  ex- 
pansion to  reflection,  98 ;  effect 
upon  the  church,  120, 154  ;  position 
of,  still  held  by  Christians,  91, 104- 
107 ;  Gospel  of  John  favorite  book 
of,  1x4. 

Hadrian,  34. 


INDEX 


279 


Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  256. 

Hebrews,  Gospel  according  to  tbe, 
270. 

Hegesippus,  58,  59. 

Hierarchy  :  the  germ  of,  39 ;  forces 
that  resulted  in,  69,  70, 99 ;  leaders 
of,  in;  influence  of  Pauline  con- 
ceptions upon,  160;  Paul's  spirit 
opposed  to,  130,  137 ;  opposed  by 
Marcion,  128,  131 ;  conflict  of  the 
law  and  the  gospel  in,  140;  a  prin- 
ciple dangerous  to,  199 ;  methods 
used  by,  213 ;  authority  of,  182, 
193,  221,  225. 

Heracleon  :  a  Gnostic,  26  ;  disciple 
of  Valentinus,  93  ;  commentary  on 
the  Gospel  of  John  by,  26,  93 ; 
method  of  interpretation  used  by, 
26,  94-97,  102  ;  considered  martyr- 
dom unnecessary,  170. 

Hippolytus,  122. 

Hystaspes,  64,  65. 

Ignatius,  242. 

Inspiration  :  early  church's  concep- 
tion of,  33,  34,  39,  74,  75,  III,  249 ; 
opposition  to  Catholic  doctrine  of, 
20;  restriction  of,  102,  247  ;  second 
century  conception  of,  38-40,  47, 
68,  69;  of  Greeks,  48,  49,  67,  71,  72, 
74  ;  beginning  of  belief  in  verbal, 
94 ;  opposition  of  Montanists  to 
Catholic  conception  of,  164  ;  new 
conception  of,  225,  230 ;  effect  upon 
Christian  character  of  closing 
period  of,  165. 

Irenaeus  :  bishop  of  Lyons,  182  ;  pupil 
of  Polycarp,  182  ;  attitude  of,  to- 
ward philosophers,  27,  87,  88,  124 ; 
aided  conception  of  a  canon, 
182 ;  first  to  use  Epistles  as  scrip- 
ture, 187 ;  gave  reasons  for  there 
being  four  Gospels,  185,  186 ; 
gave  the  order  of  the  four  Gos- 
pels, 188. 


John,  Gospel  of,  120,  123,  199. 

Johannine  question,  53,  115. 

Justin  Martyr;  educated  in  pagan 
philosophy,  71  ;  teacher  of  Tatian, 
54  ;  makes  use  only  of  the  Gospels, 
54,  66-68,  58  ;  Logos  source  of  au- 
thority for,  54,  55,  67  ;  believed  in 
the  inspiration  of  the  Greeks,  74, 
80;  education  of  Christians  at  the 
time  of.  III  ;  knew  nothing  about 
a  closed  canon,  58  ;  wrote  an 
apology  to  the  emperor,  62 ;  a 
victim  of  persecution,  67. 

Logos,  the  :  source  of  authority  for 
Justin  Martyr,  54-57,  80;  Platonic 
doctrine  of,  72  ;  Christ,  75  ;  Alogi, 
114-119. 

Luke,  Gospel  of,  136,  189. 

Luther,  140,  189. 

Marcion  :  son  of  bishop  of  Sinope, 
127  ;  character  of,  127, 131, 132  ;  are- 
former,  128  ;  method  of  interpreta- 
tion, 128;  rejected  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 128,  129,  138,  139;  first  to 
close  a  canon  of  Christian  writ- 
ings, 127 ;  canon  of,  135,  136 ; 
teachings  of,  present  contradictions 
and  uncertainties,  133 ;  Tertullian 
answers,  129;  mission  of,  133,  134, 

141. 

Marcionites  :  remarkable  growth  of, 
141,  142 ;  wherein  their  strength 
lay,  129,  132,  143 ;  asceticism  of, 
133,  142,  143,  146;  Pauline  char- 
acter of  the,  138;  tried  to  answer 
"  What  is  Christianity  ?  "  142  ; 
hindrances  to  their  success,  143- 
145;  put  down  by  authority, 
159;  Tertullian  and  the,  158,  163, 
178. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  165. 

Montanism  :  Began  in  Asia  Minor, 
152;  opposed  Catholic  doctrine  of 


28o 


INDEX 


inspiration,  30 ;  appealed  to  same 
group  of  literature  as  the  Gnostics, 
120;  spirit  of,  151-153, 158, 166, 167, 
X70 ;  in  the  church,  152  ;  accusation 
against  the  church,  163  ;  checked, 
164  :  decline  of,  165-167  ;  antago- 
nistic to  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
168. 

Montanus,  152. 

Muratorian  Fragment :  discovered 
in  1740,  221 ;  written  in  the  second 
century,  222  ;  is  Rome's  attempt 
to  close  the  canon,  222 ;  warns 
against  heretics,  222 ;  reveals  the 
difficulties  in  closing  the  canon, 
223,  225 ;  shows  the  authority  of 
the  church,  224-230 ;  effect  of  the 
spirit  of,  230,  231. 

Origen  :  gospel  text  established  by, 
41 ;  method  of  interpretation  used 
by,  95,  118,  179  ;  Basilides  and,  83. 

Papias :  a  native  of  Hierapolis  in 
Phrygia,  35 ;  a  Christian  writer, 
35 ;  exegesis  of  "  The  Sayings  of 
the  Lord "  by,  36  ;  purpose  of, 
in  exegesis,  36  ;  norm  of  authority 
for  exegesis  of,  36,  70,  193. 

Paul,  130,  137,  162,  192,  199. 

Paul,  Epistles  of  :  mentioned,  67 ; 
use  of,  by  Marcion,  133-135,  138, 
140 ;  use  of,  in  the  church,  29,  88 ; 
new  use  of,  88,  89,  187;  Justin's 
lack  of  familiarity  with,  60 ;  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  among  the,  103. 

Peter,  apocalypse  of,  64. 

Peter,  177. 

Peter,  Gospel  of:  purpose  of  its  con- 
struction, 270 ;  fragment  of,  dis- 
covered, 13;  authorship  of,  70; 
Second  Clement  quotes  from,  39; 
rejection  of,  50. 

Philo,  method  used  by,  26,  72,  73, 
185. 


Plato,  63,  75. 

Platonists,  42,  71. 

Platonic  Doctrine  :  "  Vice  is  igno- 
rance," 75, 101 ;  behind  every  proc- 
ess of  creed  formation,  loi  ;  tri- 
umphant in  the  second  century, 
loi  ;  led  to  a  form  of  Platonism  in 
the  church,  118;  foundation  of  a 
fanatical   and    intolerant    system, 

75. 

Polycarp,  38,  183, 

Protestantism  :  present  spirit  of,  193, 
194;  method  of  interpretation  used 
by,  194 ;  holds  Catholic  doctrine 
of  inspiration,  195 ;  makes  New 
Testament  a  weapon  against  hier- 
archy, 255  ;  scholarship  turns  New 
Testament  upon,  255;  on  the  path 
of  liberty   267. 

Sabellians,  61. 

Serapion,  bishop  of  Antioch,  50, 
70. 

Shepherd  of  Hermas :  an  allegory, 
260;  considered  inspired  by  Clem- 
ent, 64;  product  of  adoption- 
ism,  114 ;  influence  of,  17,  225, 
260 ;  exclusion  of,  from  the  canon, 

Socrates,  57,  72,  74  80. 

Synoptic  problem,  53. 

Syrian  church  :  Tatian  missionary 
to,  51  ;  used  the  Diatessaron,  51, 
S3 ;  interest  of,  in  theology,  54. 

Tatian  :  a  strolling  rhetorician,  51  ; 
converted  at  Rome,  51 ;  taught  by 
Justin  Martyr,  54;  Syrian  mis- 
sionary, 52 ;  wrote  Gospel  called 
the  "  Diatessaron,"  51 ;  a  witness 
to  the  origin  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 51 ;  considered  a  heretic  by 
Tertullian,  180. 

Tertullian  :  the  polemics  of,  28,  82, 
124,  135;  replies  to  Marcion,  12^ 


INDEX 


281 


131,  162 ;  conflict  between  Gnos- 
ticism and  Montanism  as  seen  in, 
154-157;  authority  of,  158,  159; 
conception  of  a  canon,  177-179; 
insisted  on  the  "Virginity  of  the 
Church,"  "The  Prescription  of 
Heretics"  bj%  176;  apostolic  au- 
thority as  viewed  by,  175. 

Thales,  248. 

Theodoret,  51,  122. 

Theophilus  of  Antioch ;    theory  of. 


concerning  the  Holy  Spirit,  48,  74  ; 
authority  of,  49. 
Thessalonians,  Epistle  to  the,  180. 

Valentinus :  disciple  of  Theodas, 
85;  acquainted  with  Paul,  85  :  in- 
fluence of,  85,  86,  93 ;  method  of, 
described  by  Irenseus,  86-88,  240; 
followers  of,  92,  93. 

Xenophenes,  248. 


Date  Due 


*«' 


BS2320.F39 

The  formation  of  the  New  Testament, 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00012  6393 


